Xanterlot University
by Neonz
Summary: Six young women with bizarre similarities all receive scholarships to a prestigious university. They have no idea that they're all connected in an alternate dimension, and are the elements needed to save the world... but they're about to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! :D This is my first fic for MLP: FIM… I hadn't even heard of the series until about a month ago, and now look at me… I'm a "pegasister"!

So yeah, some **WARNINGS** about this fic: It will contain alcohol, drugs, sex references, and language. Also violence (fighting, mainly) later on… y'know, typical college life. These things aren't the focus of the story though, so hopefully the T rating is okay. I've tried to base it a bit around my own university experience (I'm nearly finished my 1st year of business!), and all of the mane six are **HUMANS**, living in **OUR WORLD**. At least, for now. ;) but that's a story for later. It's based at an imaginary university in the USA. To be completely honest I live in Canada and can't give specifics of the location right now due to me not taking geography… maybe later.

Exams are coming up, so I'm not sure how good I'll be at updating this, but I'll do my best! I'll respond to reviews! Disclaimer: …I don't own this series (duh, or it wouldn't be a "fan"fiction).

…

A young woman hopped out of a taxi, pulling out one huge bag with her and hurrying out to open the trunk to retrieve more. She wore a purple ruffle t-shirt, with black leggings and flats. Her hazel eyes shone as she witnessed the beautiful buildings and lush landscape of her new school for the first time. She brushed her very dark, straight hair out of her face as she turned to pull out her two suitcases, both a deep purple colour. The most important years of her life were about to unfold, and she didn't want to miss a single moment.

"Ms. Sparkle?" The driver questioned as he caught up to her. "Are you certain you don't want any help with those bags? It's really no trouble."

The girl shook her head, but smiled at his generosity. "I'm fine. And like I said, call me Twilight." She said, pushing a couple bills into his hands.

"Thank you, Twilight." The man grinned. "I'd wish you luck, but I can tell you're perfectly capable by your choice of university. Xanterlot is well known as the best around."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you." She pulled out a map from the bag around her shoulder, and squinted as she examined it. "To be honest, I never took the tour of this place… Do you know where "Kismet House" is?"

The driver looked surprised. "You got placed in Kismet? O-oh, yes, of course I know where that is…" The frown that appeared on his face was not lost on Twilight, who gave him an odd look. "I'm sorry," He continued, "it's straight that way. Right here on you map." He pointed down a path along the side of the campus, and tapped a building that seemed a bit far off from the others.

"Oh, okay, well thank you! I should really get going, then." Twilight smiled and waved.

The driver did the same as she started walking down the path. "Good luck, Twilight Sparkle!"

…

Twilight sighed in relief as she dragged her bags along. The driver didn't once comment on her odd name, or the fact that her parents weren't with her to see her off on her first day of university; things that most everyone seemed to bring up.

Truth be told, Twilight had never met her parents. According to stories she was told by social services, she appeared at the door of an orphanage as a two year old with nothing besides an identification card. She'd lived at that orphanage for many years, and was in and out of foster care for far longer. Despite being the best in her class at everything, she'd never managed to convince a foster family to adopt her. She'd long since accepted being on her own, and focused instead on her studies. A full scholarship to the prestigious Xanterlot University was her reward.

Though as she came across an old, tired building with mass amounts of graffiti scribbled across the side, she wasn't sure she was impressed with her placement in residence. There was a small plaque on the side of the building that read: "_KISMET HOUSE. Named after Sir Lionel Kismet (1789 – 1852), one of the founders and scholars of Xanterlot. He encouraged students to "find their destiny, even if in a way they might not expect."_

Twilight turned away and twisted a fancy-looking door handle. The door creaked as it opened. As she stepped in, she noticed a few students behind a table set up near the entrance.

"Good morning!" A cheerful young girl with curly red hair greeted. Two boys beside her raised their hands in greeting. One was a bit taller, with shorter hair. The second was an inch or two shorter, but had more muscles and was arguably better looking. "My name's Marilyn, I'm the president for Kismet." She continued, " Can I have your name and some ID please? Then I can get Will and Garrett here to help you with your bags." She gestured to each in turn as she named them, revealing the taller to be Will, and the shorter to be Garrett. "They're on house council as well… Will's in charge of finance, Garrett's vice president.

Twilight approached, dragging her suitcases behind her. "Oh… that won't be necessary…" She said, though she was panting from the effort of carrying them. "And my name's Twilight Sparkle."

The two boys snickered and the girl raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"Twilight Sparkle." She repeated, used to this treatment. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a driver's license.

Marilyn took the license and peered at it for a moment before handing it back. "Oh, um, of course, yes you're right here, room 308. A basic double… your roommate isn't here yet. Here's your key." She passed an old-looking brass key over. "Boys?"

The two guys saluted and each picked up a suitcase before Twilight could protest. She was reduced to following while carrying just her shoulder bag up two flights of stairs. They continued down a hallway until they stopped at the room second from the end.

"Here we are, 308!" Garrett announced, gesturing unnecessarily to the door in front of Twilight. "Go on, open it! Kismet's an old building, so we still use keys… the rest of the campus uses ID cards, but you'll get used to it, don't worry."

Twilight nodded and turned her key into the slot on the door. The door clicked open.

The room wasn't very big. It had just enough room for two identical beds, dressers, desks, and chairs, each set on one side of the room, with a bit of floor space left over in the middle.

Will and Garrett dragged Twilight's bags inside, and dropped them on the bit of floor space she had. "Since you're here first, you get to pick whichever side you want." Will explained.

"Oh, okay." Twilight said, surveying the room. She quickly picked the right side, simply because the desk on the left had a hole in it that she knew would drive her nuts. She started unpacking, believing that the boys would leave once she started doing so.

"So, what program are you enrolled in, Twilight?" Garrett asked.

Twilight sighed. "Astrophysics."

Both boys exchanged impressed glances. "Wow, that's sure surprising. I've never heard of a first year taking astrophysics before… don't you have to take certain - "

"I took the requirements online during high school in order to take it first year." Twilight explained without looking up.

Will let out a low whistle. "Well damn, I'm only in third year business. I'm majoring in marketing." He said. Twilight only nodded.

"I'm in the rec program." Garrett said. Again, Twilight only nodded. Garrett cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure your next-door neighbour is in rec too…"

Will stared at him in surprise. "Oh God, do you mean - ?" Garrett nodded and Will burst into laughter. Twilight looked up, a mixture of annoyance and confusion on her face. Finally fed up, she deliberately started unpacking her bras. "I'm sorry, we should leave you be." Will said quickly. Twilight smirked, but he continued. "Just a warning – I'm pretty sure the girl beside you has been drinking quite a bit already today…"

Twilight finally hesitated and looked up at them. "It's only one in the afternoon…" Twilight didn't drink herself, and wasn't impressed to know her neighbours did differently.

Garrett laughed. "I'd be drunk too if I didn't have to do all of this house council crap. It's your first day of university! Live a little!" He winked at her, and both he and Will disappeared.

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. She closed her door, then continued unpacking. She was nearly finished when dubstep started blasting from the room beside hers. She tried her best to ignore it as she finished up.

Next on her list of things to do was purchase textbooks, but a bigger part of her wanted to wait for her roommate to arrive. So long as she wasn't like her next-door neighbour, Twilight was sure they'd get along fine. Twilight rummaged through a stack of newly unpacked papers, until she found the sheet that identified her room information.

Quickly reading through it, Twilight learned that her roommate's name was "Flutter Shy." An unusual name… not that she could really talk.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Twilight was excited for a moment; was that her roommate? She stood up and put her papers to the side. The knocking came again, this time more frantic and unrelenting.

Twilight wondered why she wouldn't have just used her key. She opened her door, and a tiny girl in a cyan hoodie nearly fell on top of her.

"Oh, goodness…" Twilight exclaimed, taking a few steps backwards as the girl staggered into her room, grinning the whole time.

"Hiiii!" The girl drawled. Her dark hair was short and choppy, and the ends were highlighted multiple different colours; all of the colours of the rainbow. She was clearly intoxicated, as she could barely stand. Twilight quickly gestured for her to sit on her newly-made bed.

The girl did so quickly, her brown eyes struggling to keep focused on Twilight. "I… I just wanted to say hi, cause we're new neighbours." She giggled. "Dunno if you can tell but I've had a biiit too much if ya know what I mean." She made a drinking motion with her hand, though forgot to put her hand near her face when she did so.

Oh right. Her neighbour. "Oh, that's… fine…" Twilight said, extending a hand towards her. "My name's Twilight Sparkle."

Instead of a hand shake, Twilight received a high five, much to her confusion. "My name's Rainbow… Rainbow Dash." The girl smiled.

Twilight glanced at the girl's hair. "Fitting name."

Rainbow laughed. "It's my legal name! The hair idea came later." She winked. "Byyyy the way, I have a single next door, so if you ever want to sleep on my floor… you know… need to get away from the roommate or something…" Rainbow Dash snickered. "I don't mind! Annnytime!" She attempted to illustrate this with a wave of her arm, and ended up falling over onto her side.

"That's very… generous." Twilight said, starting to worry about how to get her out of her room.

"Well, anyways, I think it's time to take some shots!" Rainbow sat up suddenly, beaming. "You should come, Twilight! GAAARRRETTTT!" She screamed. "COME TAKE SHOTS WITH ME AND TWILIGHT!"

Twilight shook her head, alarmed. "Oh, no, I'm gonna wait here for my roommate. I don't want to be, uh, too out of it when she shows up, right?"

Rainbow nodded rapidly, wide-eyed. "Oh, that's a good idea!" She clapped her hands together, then stood up, swaying a bit. "Just me then! I'm the best at taking shots, you know." She said, suddenly. "I bet I'm better than anyone in this entire residence!" She bragged, pointing a thumb towards her chest for emphasis. "This entire CAMPUS even! I can take them all in a row, too!"

"Too bad you have nowhere to put them all…" Twilight muttered, looking skeptically at the other girl's tiny figure.

Rainbow giggled, then staggered out of the room. "GAAAARREETTT."

Twilight closed her room after her, breathing a sigh of relief. She could hear Garrett and Will outside her door, saying something to Rainbow.

"Oh, Twilight's super-cool! You'll love her! She thought she was better than me at taking shots… but I showed her… she didn't even take ONE!" Rainbow replied triumphantly.

Twilight rolled her eyes, and pulled out a book. She was about to start reading it, when the lock on her door clicked open.

…

:O Yay! Rainbow Dash always struck me as a girl that didn't know the meaning of "casual" drinking. But no, she's not an alcoholic. Just a bit wilder than Twilight, heh. Read and review, please… I love constructive criticism!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys… hopefully lots of people were impressed enough with the first chapter to keep reading. We're still in the introduction stages.

Me no own. Except for any obvious OCs like Will and Garrett.

…

Twilight looked up, a bit surprised when her door started creaking open. Will and Garrett walked inside and hauled two suitcases – one pink, one yellow – in, and waved when they saw Twilight.

"So, here you have it! Your new room, and this is your roommate, Twilight." Will introduced, though Twilight didn't immediately see anybody standing beside him. She stood up and came over herself, and noticed a girl peeking out from the door frame. Said girl widened her eyes and shrank back a bit as she noticed Twilight looking at her.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud coming from the hallway. The new girl flinched, and Will and Garrett looked over curiously. Rainbow's voice echoed through the hallway, "HOW DO I GET THIS GODDAMN KEY IN THE SLOT?" There were some more noises that Twilight assumed were from Rainbow hitting the door in frustration, then a brass key flew past Twilight's doorway.

Will and Garrett quickly left the room. "Rainbow, cool it would ya? Here, let me get your key…" Garrett said, and went down the hallway. Will nudged the new girl inside of Twilight's room before closing the door, and the poor thing looked downright terrified. Twilight could see that she was holding something close to herself, but couldn't tell exactly what it was.

The two girls looked at each other awkwardly for a moment amidst the chaos going on outside. The new girl was a bit shorter than Twilight, but not as short as Rainbow. She had big, blue-green eyes, and wispy blonde hair that was parted so that it covered half of her face. She was wearing a long, pale-yellow v-neck with pink capris and flip-flops.

Twilight decided she had better break the silence. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She smiled warmly, and waited for the other girl to introduce herself. When she instead looked shyly at the ground, Twilight decided to prompt her. "What's your name?"

After a moment of hesitation, the girl responded. "Um… I'm Flutt…s…" Her voice was incredibly quiet, and Twilight couldn't hear the end of what she'd said.

"I'm sorry…" Twilight apologized. "What was that?"

The girl kept her gaze focused away from Twilight. "Um… m-my name's Flut…r…y"

"Didn't quite catch that." Twilight prompted again, starting to feel sorry for the girl.

Instead of a response, she just squeaked something incoherent and looked fearfully away.

Twilight stared at her for a few moments. "Oookayyy," she said, glancing back at the papers she had for her room information. "Well, according to my room documents, your name is… Flutter? Is that right?"

The girl turned back to look at her. "U-um… yes… I-I mean… no…" Twilight gave her an odd look, and she cleared her throat. "I mean… it's Flutter… Flutter_shy._" She finally managed to convey, looking at Twilight with huge eyes.

"Oh," Twilight said, glancing at her documents again. "That's your last name, right? Flutter Shy?"

"Oh… no." She said, looking away again. "One word… Fluttershy." She looked up worriedly. "If that's okay with you… I-I mean… I know it's a weird name, you could call me something else - "

"Of course not…" Twilight said, a bit overwhelmed at her level of shyness. Fluttershy simply smiled, and placed what she was clutching in her arms on her desk. Twilight recognized the object as a fish bowl, but the fish in it looked half dead.

As Fluttershy started cooing over the creature and unpacking her things, Twilight stood up. "I'll let you get set up… I need to go buy textbooks." She explained, grabbing her wallet and key before she left. Twilight took Fluttershy's nod as an agreement, and departed.

Twilight sighed as she closed the door behind her. At least she didn't get stuck with a partier.

As if on cue, Rainbow Dash stumbled out of her room and spotted Twilight. She waved drunkenly in greeting. "Hey… where are you goin' off to?" She asked accusingly.

"Going to buy textbooks…" She explained, hoping that Rainbow would be easier to throw off this time.

Rainbow looked confused. "Oh. I'll come with you! You'll probably get lost." She unsteadily headed in Twilight's direction.

Twilight looked at the other girl skeptically. "You'll get written up for underage drinking. Why don't you just stay here?" Twilight suggested, trying to sound kind.

The tiny girl thought for a moment. "Yeah, that's true." Twilight sighed in relief and turned to walk away. "I'll just introduce myself to your roommate, then!" Rainbow continued, turning towards room 308.

Twilight halted in her tracks. "Oh, no, she's trying to get settled in. I think it's best to leave her be." Twilight explained quickly, understanding full-well that Fluttershy would be more than overwhelmed by drunken Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's shoulders slumped. "Aw, man. There's nothing cool to do around here." She flopped onto the ground and stared in annoyance at the ceiling. "At least the ceiling here spins. That's kind of… of cool."

Twilight considered helping her for a moment, but thought better of it and decided to make an escape instead.

Minutes later, Twilight was outside and heading towards the campus bookstore, map in hand. Kismet House was located further away from everything else, though the campus was small enough to be crossed in less than ten minutes, so "far" was relative.

Twilight couldn't help but notice the other residences, which were all quite a bit better looking than her own. She wasn't sure what they were called, but she was especially impressed by one made of beautiful white bricks. It looked fairly new. As she watched, a girl with poofy pink-streaked hair came out of the building backwards with a pout on her face. She had on an entirely pink ensemble consisting of a halter top, mini-skirt, and small heels.

A voice came out of the house, assumably directed towards the girl. "You aren't allowed in here! Upper years _only_, and besides, shouldn't you be socializing with your own house on the first day?" A male voice shouted angrily at her.

"But, but, but…" The girl said, wide eyed, before speaking insanely fast. "I need to know _everybody!_ If I don't know everybody, then not everybody will know me, and then they won't be invited to any of my parties, and they'll feel left out, and - "

"I'm sure they'll live." The voice said unsympathetically, then shut the door.

The girl looked devastated for a moment, then Twilight watched as she sneakily crawled up to a different residence, and snuck in when another student opened the door.

Something about the girl made Twilight smile. As she continued to the bookstore, she could overhear a similar lecture coming from the residence the girl with the poofy pink streaked hair had entered. Twilight couldn't help but chuckle as she finally entered the bookstore.

Twilight approached the clerk working at the store. "Excuse me?" Twilight asked, and the clerk turned around. "Could you help me find some textbooks? I'm taking astrophysics, and psychology as an elective."

The clerk nodded and directed her towards the appropriate sections. Twilight thanked her, and was able to gather most of her books in the same location. Psychology was located in a different section, so she headed over to a different area of the store.

There was another girl also looking in that section, one finger placed thoughtfully on her lip. She was a bit oddly dressed in Twilight's opinion, wearing an orange plaid crop-top with a white tank-top underneath, blue jeans, brown shoes, and to top it all off, a cowboy hat placed on top of her braided dirty-blonde hair.

Twilight started looking for her psychology book, but it was nowhere to be found. She turned to the other girl. "Excuse me, are you looking for the intro to psychology textbook as well?"

The girl with the cowboy hat nodded. "Sure am! Don't seem teh be her', though. Migh' be outta stock, ah heard it'sa popular course." Twilight was slightly taken aback by her strong southern accent, but smiled none the less, and nodded.

"Let's check with the clerk… it might have been put into overstock or something." Twilight suggested. The other girl nodded, and they started walking together. "My name's Twilight, by the way. Twilight Sparkle."

The girl smiled as her green eyes met Twilight's hazel ones. "Call me Applejack."

After the two girls explained the situation to the clerk, she rushed out back to grab some more books for them. Twilight turned to Applejack, deciding to fill in time. "So, Applejack, are you taking psychology?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, ah'm takin' agricultural studies. Ah always wanted tah be-ah farmer… Ah think mah parents were ones, but ah don't remember 'em… Ah was adopted, see, and ah lived in the city mah whole life. Psyc's just ahn elective."

Twilight nodded. "That's really interesting… I never met my real parents either." The two girls smiled at this similarity. "And I'm taking astrophysics."

Applejack gave a low whistle. "Well jeez, tha' sure does sound mighty fancy, Twilight. Are ya livin' on campus?"

Twilight nodded. "In Kismet House."

Applejack grinned. "Me too! Third floor."

"Wow!" Twilight said, "That's the floor I'm on!"

The girls continued chatting for a few minutes, until the clerk came back with their books. "I'm sorry for the wait, they were under a huge stack…" She sighed, a little out of breath.

"That's okay." Applejack replied, giving a wink at Twilight, who smiled.

They both purchased their books, and left together. Applejack halted as they left the store. "I need tah go take care of-a couple things down in the student services." She explained, pointing in the other direction from where Kismet House was. Twilight nodded. Applejack smiled. "Ah sure do like makin' new friends… it was-a pleasure meetin' you, Twilight!"

"You too, Applejack!" Twilight replied, before heading back to Kismet House.

…

Later that night, Twilight and Fluttershy were in their rooms, hiding from the blaring music and loud, obnoxious, drunken voices outside. Twilight was reading a book, while Fluttershy was buried under her covers, uncertainly watching the walls shake with beat of the blaring music.

Twilight was at least glad that she wasn't the only one who wanted no part in the illegal drinking games going on in the hallway. She did her best to ignore the noise. Rainbow was still going strong, and every so often knocked on Twilight's door and called for her to come out. Twilight ignored the attempts, and was pleased that Fluttershy did the same.

Twilight could almost swear that one of the voices in the hallway belonged to the girl with the poofy pink-streaked hair she had seen earlier, but couldn't be sure. There were so many people outside. She rolled onto her side, deciding to give up on the book. Fortunately, Xanterlot had specified hours where residents had to be quiet, so she wouldn't have to wait too much longer until they took effect.

A tiny voice came floating from across the room. "U-um… Twilight?"

"Yes, Fluttershy?" Twilight replied, a bit surprised since it was the first thing she had said to her this evening.

The shy girl hesitated before continuing. "I-I just wanted to let you know… I have, um, really bad nightmares sometimes… just in case you hear me crying in my sleep, that's why. I didn't want to make you worry if it happened tonight, so…"

"Oh." Twilight responded, feeling sympathetic. She herself had bad nightmares sometimes, though she wasn't sure if she should bring that up. "Okay, thanks for letting me know. Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight…"

As the voices died down outside, both girls fell into an uneasy sleep.

…

Thanks for making it this far! If you're reading this, mind sending a review my way? Tell me what you like, and what you don't? Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you very much y1fellas and BlackShock95 for being my first two to send me reviews! :D I've tried to keep your suggestions in mind for this chapter.

I really don't think these disclaimers are necessary, but whatever. Makes for a good transition to the chapter. My Little Pony is owned by Hasbro, which I am not affiliated with in any way.

…

_A beautiful white mare stood proud atop a pedestal in a huge room. She had powerful looking feathered wings, and a huge spiraled horn on her forehead. Her flowing mane was coloured with soft pastel shades, and she wore a huge gold necklace with a single purple jewel that perfectly matched the crown atop her head._

_Twilight was overcome with respect. She lowered her neck, allowing her own purple mane to cover part of her face, and extended her forelegs downwards in a bowing position. When she looked up again, the mare was giving her a warm smile._

"_Twilight Sparkle." The mare addressed. "My ever faithful student. We need to discuss something very important - " She was cut off as the earth started rumbling._

_Twilight whipped her head around, trying to find some sort of clue as to why the ground was shaking. When she looked back, the white mare had vanished. "Princess Celestia?" She cried._

_In a flash of purple lightning, a new mare took her place. She was a bit smaller, with the same feathered wings and large horn, but coloured a deep indigo. She was clothed in blue armour, and had a malicious expression on her face. Twilight took a few steps back, breathing heavily._

_The mare looked at her and cackled. "One thousand years I've waited for this moment… And look at you, all alone! Haven't even gathered the elements, have you?"_

_Twilight couldn't do anything except stare in disbelief. She felt as if her worst fears had been realized._

"_I am Nightmare Moon!" The mare continued, cackling. And with another flash of purple lightning, everything went black. Twilight felt the ground beneath her slip away, and she screamed as she fell through the air._

"_Twilight." The voice of Princess Celestia calmly surrounded her. Twilight looked everywhere, but could see nothing but darkness. "Twilight." The voice repeated. "This is what you must prevent. Gather the elements. The time is approaching, and I cannot protect you for much longer. My faithful student… I know you will succeed." The voice faded away, and a rushing sound replaced it. The sound of somebody crying started echoing around her. Twilight knew she was just moments away from hitting the ground – _

Twilight woke up, gasping for air. Her heart pounded in her chest, and after a few moments, she realized she had just been dreaming again. She rubbed her forehead, groaning. It wasn't the first time she had dreamt about the white mare, but the purple one was new. Something about these recurring dreams seemed so real and familiar to her…

As she started to calm down, she realized that the crying she was hearing hadn't been coming from her dream. She looked over, and in the faint light of the rising run could see Fluttershy curled up and sobbing in her sleep.

"Please… please no…" Fluttershy muttered, her voice desperate and terrified. "Get away from me… I-I…!" Her breathing picked up, and she whimpered.

There was a loud thud as something hit the other side of the wall that separated their room from Rainbow Dash's. Twilight flinched, and Fluttershy's eyes shot open. The blonde girl started shaking as she eyed the room, clearly still half asleep, and confused to have woken up somewhere unfamiliar.

Twilight walked over and knelt beside her. "It's okay, Fluttershy… Shh…" She said softly as Fluttershy's sobbing died down, and a few final tears escaped from her eyes. Twilight moved some of the hair that had fallen into Fluttershy's face away, and the shy girl's breathing evened out as she looked at Twilight questioningly.

"T-Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, starting to sit up.

Twilight nodded. "You were just dreaming… it was just a dream." She told Fluttershy, but was also trying to tell herself the same thing. It was just a dream… wasn't it?

"Oh." Fluttershy said softly, clearly a bit embarrassed to have caused Twilight any trouble. "I'm sorry… Thank you. I'm okay now, you can go back to sleep if you want." Fluttershy sunk back into her covers.

Twilight wasn't sure if she would be able to go back to sleep after all that had just happened, but Fluttershy clearly didn't feel like sharing whatever she had been dreaming about, so she just nodded and crawled back into her own bed.

The clock set up on Twilight's desk read 5:14am. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. There wasn't any fact to the dream… she hoped. After all, horses didn't talk, or have wings and horns. She tried to brush the familiar feeling off as déjà vu, but she couldn't help but admit that there was something weird about it at the same time.

Twilight stole a glance over at Fluttershy, and saw that she was staring at the ceiling much like Twilight had been. Twilight resumed her former position, and let her thoughts overtake her until she drifted off to sleep again.

Twilight awoke to a beaming face and a mess of brown and pink-streaked hair hanging over her. "Rise and shine sleepyhead!" The face sung happily.

Twilight screamed and recoiled backwards, knocking her head on the closet behind her. Dazed, she stared at the girl dressed all in pink standing over her, then over to Fluttershy, who was still holding the door open and looking just as stunned as Twilight.

"I just wanted to introduce myself, because I noticed I didn't meet you two last night when I met everybody else! My name's Pinkie Pie!" She grinned widely. "What are your names?"

Twilight blinked rapidly, still not sure if she was asleep or not. "I… uh, my name's Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

Pinkie Pie clapped excitedly. "That's a fun name! I don't think I've ever met anybody with that name before, and trust me, I've met lots of people so that's saying something! You must be super-duper unique!"

Twilight just stared at her. "Uh…"

Pinkie Pie turned suddenly towards Fluttershy, who shrank back. "What about you, what's your name?"

Fluttershy stared at her, wide-eyed. "I-I… um…"

"Her name's Fluttershy." Twilight said, deciding to save Pinkie the trouble she went through for the same answer the day before.

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, looking thoughtful. "…Nope! Never heard of that name either! You two are super unique roommates!" She giggled. "I'll have to have a party for you tonight so you can meet some people! After all, we live on the same floor!" She beamed, clearly excited.

"O-oh, I don't know…" Twilight said uncertainly.

"Don't worry about it!" Pinkie insisted, waving her hand dismissively. "It'll just be a really small party, after all classes start tomorrow, and everyone needs sleep sometimes! Come over to my room at six, I live in room 303! Anyways, I need to go eat a banana. I'd better see you two around soon!" With that, she skipped out of the room, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy stunned.

"…What just happened?" Twilight asked, staring at the door where Pinkie Pie had exited.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't know. But Pinkie Pie seems nice to me." She smiled.

Twilight sighed. "Yeah, but I don't exactly want a wake-up call every morning at…" She trailed off, glancing at the clock. "Oh my goodness, it's eleven already?"

"Oh, yes." Fluttershy said meekly. "I didn't want to wake you, so I snuck out really quietly and ate breakfast and bought my textbooks." She gestured towards the stack of them, which were on her desk next to the fishbowl.

Twilight looked over curiously, noting that the first one on the stack was the same intro to psychology book that Twilight had purchased the day before. "So you're taking psychology?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no, psychology is just an elective. That and music." She smiled fondly. "I'm taking biology. I want to be a vet one day." She glanced over at the fishbowl, where the half-dead looking betta fish swam around feebly with torn fins and pale colouring. "I just love helping animals like Fin here. I found him in the pet store, so I decided to take him with me." Fluttershy traced a line across the bowl, and Fin followed her finger eagerly. She giggled. "Isn't he cute?"

Twilight looked at the mangled fish skeptically. 'Fin' didn't seem like an appropriate name. "Yeah, I guess."

Fluttershy picked up a box beside the fishbowl labeled "freshwater aquarium salt". She held it over the bowl, and tapped gently, a tiny bit of salt falling into the bowl every time she hit it. Once satisfied that there was enough salt, she placed the box back beside the fishbowl. "You'll like him better once he's looking like himself again, I'm sure. The salt will help him heal." She looked at Twilight, smiling.

Twilight couldn't help but notice that Fluttershy seemed to be warming up to her. She wondered if it had something to do with what had happened last night…

Last night! Twilight remembered the events from the night with a jolt. She was compelled to do research on it. Even if she didn't find anything, Twilight figured at least she'd get a feel for the school's library.

"Fluttershy, I'm going to go check out the library. You want to come?" Twilight asked, hurrying to find her purse and key.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, thanks." The blonde's attention was focused on her biology textbook. "You have fun, though."

Twilight nodded, and left. The hallway was much quieter than it had been the day before. Twilight quickly freshened up in the bathroom, then she headed downstairs.

She was about to head out the door, when a voice stopped her. "Hey, Twilight!"

Twilight sighed internally, then turned to see Will, Garrett, a few other boys whom she didn't know, and, a bit randomly, Pinkie Pie, all in the lounge that was near the entrance of Kismet.

Pinkie Pie's face lit up when she saw Twilight. "Twilight! We were just talking about you!" Twilight raised an eyebrow, but Pinkie waltzed over happily and dragged Twilight to their group.

"What Pinkie Pie means," Will said quickly. "is we were just wondering if you'd seen Rainbow Dash today? Just because you're neighbours and all."

"Uh, no, I guess I haven't. I just got up myself…" Twilight said, glancing back at the exit. She really didn't want to converse when she had more important things to do.

"Oh." Will said. He and the rest of the group exchanged glances.

"…Why, did something happen?" Twilight asked, giving in to curiosity.

Garrett laughed. "No, everything's fine. That girl's a champ… probably has a wicked hangover." The others nodded, still looking a bit uncertain.

Twilight took a step backwards. "Well, maybe you should check on her? Anyways, I reeeeally have to run. Bit late on my schedule for today." She waved and turned to the exit to make her escape.

"Remember Twilight!" Pinkie Pie called after her. "Six o' clock!"

…

Sorry if this chapter leaves a lot of unanswered questions, lol. Each of my chapters seems to be around 2000 words, so I figured this would be an appropriate place to stop.

Want to send some feedback my way? Praise? Criticism? Questions? Suggestions? Click the button below! Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to Jake-Everfree for reviewing the last chapter! I appreciated it!

Me no own.

…

Twilight had spent several hours in the library researching dreams and unicorns, but couldn't find much of a connection. Frustrated, she pulled out another book that was meant to explain the connection between dreams and reality.

She flipped through it absently. _'Several theories have been made concerning a connection between dreams and future events. There have been several claims by people worldwide that what they see in their dreams represents their destiny.'_

Twilight sighed. Unless she was about to change into a little purple horse sometime in the near future, she doubted any of these books had any relation to her whatsoever.

The dark-haired girl shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She didn't have time to worry about it anymore; classes started the next day.

Twilight squinted up at a clock hanging on the library wall. Five thirty. She realized that if she was suppost to meet Pinkie Pie at six, she had better leave now.

Twilight made it back to Kismet with fifteen minutes to spare. She hurried into her room, and was a bit surprised to see that Fluttershy was already gone. She didn't think anything of it, and quickly fixed up her hair and threw a bit of makeup on. She hoped that Pinkie Pie wasn't expecting anybody to dress up.

The bookworm made her way over to room 303, and noticed that it was already open. She walked in slowly, and four smiling faces turned her way.

Three of them Twilight recognized; Fluttershy was perched on the bed on the right side of the room, and Rainbow Dash was sitting beside her. From what Twilight could tell, the rainbow-haired girl looked perfectly fine. On the other bed, Twilight recognized Applejack as she tipped her hat in greeting.

The last girl was sitting in the desk chair on the same side of the room as Applejack. She had luscious, long, curly black hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be a white summer dress that was bejeweled around the bust area.

"Oh, come in, dear." The girl in the chair said, gesturing for Twilight to enter. "It's so nice to meet you, the others have said wonderful things! My name's Rarity, I'm Pinkie Pie's roommate." She stood up and offered her hand, which Twilight gladly shook.

"It's nice to meet you too, Rarity!" Twilight said in return, smiling. "Your dress is really something, by the way. Where did you get it?" Twilight wasn't really interested in fashion, but could get the sense from the number of dresses strewn across Rarity's side of the room that she certainly was.

Rarity looked down, surprised. "Oh, this old thing? I made it myself, as a matter of fact." She smiled, appearing touched by the compliment. "So I take it you're Fluttershy's roommate?"

Twilight nodded. "That's right." She glanced over at Fluttershy, who smiled shyly. "And you said you're Pinkie Pie's? She seems really nice and all, but I'd imagine sharing a room with her might be a bit… overwhelming." The others laughed in appreciation, but Rarity shook her head, smiling.

"Not at all, seeing as she's hardly ever here. It's perfect, really!" She gave a small laugh. "There's no need for you to stand, by the way, Twilight. Go and have a seat next to Applejack on my bed." Rarity pointed out the spot on her bed, then sat back down in her chair.

Twilight did as she was told, and exchanged smiles of recognition with Applejack.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?" Twilight whispered, wondering why the party-lover wasn't at her own party.

Applejack gave a small laugh. "Oh, don't you worry none. Ah reckon she'll be here soon as it's six." Applejack pointed out an LED clock at the end of the room, which read "5:57".

Twilight nodded, deciding not to question it. She turned her attention to the other bed, where Fluttershy was saying something in a low voice to Rainbow Dash. Upon noticing Twilight looking at her, she prodded Rainbow and smiled at Twilight.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, looking sheepish. "Uh, listen, Twilight… I'm really sorry about yesterday. I think we got off on the wrong foot."

Twilight smiled at the apology, though wasn't entirely sure if she could shake the first impressions from her memory. "Don't worry about it. How are you feeling today?"

"A lot better thanks to Fluttershy." Rainbow glanced at the girl beside her, who smiled shyly.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, a bit taken aback.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, she was awesome. She was the only one who bothered checking on me. Got me water and food and everything!"

Fluttershy blushed from the compliment. "When her friends were knocking on her door, I don't think they heard her saying that the door was unlocked..." She explained. "The walls are so thin that I could hear her from my room, so I thought I'd check and she was, well…"

"A mess." Rainbow Dash finished, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I can't believe how much those guys convinced me to drink. I mean, any other day I'd totally be able to handle it… but, uh, first day and all. I was excited, obviously! Might have went a _bit _overboard."

Twilight was more surprised at Fluttershy's behaviour than Rainbow's. "Fluttershy, had you even met Rainbow Dash before today?" She found it hard to believe that her roommate would go out of her way for a complete stranger; she seemed way too shy.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I hadn't… but sometimes everyone just needs to be shown a little kindness." She gave a small smile, which a slightly taken-aback Twilight returned after a second.

"Seriously though," Rainbow Dash continued, "if you ever need anything, I - "

Twilight blinked rapidly to clear her vision, which suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her hearing had completely cut out as well, though nobody else seemed to be suffering from the same thing. The four other girls were grinning at the doorway, and when Twilight turned her head, she noticed that Pinkie Pie had emerged into the room, carrying a giant bowl of what appeared to be some sort of chocolate-banana dessert.

Pinkie put the dessert down, and turned happily to Twilight. She was saying something to her, but Twilight couldn't hear nor tell what she was trying to say. Twilight could feel her heart picking up pace, and she looked at the others in the room in panic.

The voice from her dream started to echo around her. _'Gather the elements… my faithful student, I know you will succeed… gather the elements…" _The sentences started melding together, and Twilight breathed heavily, her vision alternating between the five now concerned faces staring at her.

'_Gather the elements, you will succeed… Gather the elements... The elements…_

_The elements.'_

Like a switch had been flicked, everything in Twilight's world suddenly returned to normal, albeit she had a pounding headache. She became aware that Applejack was supporting her with both arms, and the others were gathered around worriedly.

"I think she's snapping out of it…" Rainbow Dash said in a low voice.

"Y'all right, sugercube?" Applejack asked softly.

Twilight's breathing switched from being heavy to shallow as an unpleasant feeling washed over her. "I-I think I'm gonna be…" She paled.

Rarity was quick to toss a garbage can in Twilight's direction right before she started evacuating her stomach. Applejack rubbed Twilight's back as the rest of the group flinched backwards at the terrible sound of retching.

"If you didn't like bananas, you should have said so earlier!" Pinkie Pie said lightheartedly as Twilight finished.

Twilight raised her head upwards, groaning. "I'm sorry… Rarity, I'll clean this up later." She gestured to the garbage can.

"Don't worry, it isn't your fault." Rarity said, still looking a bit shocked at what had happened.

Twilight's vision flicked between the worried faces watching her. She appreciated their concern, but she really didn't feel up to doing anything besides sleeping now. "I think I'm going to go to bed." She said, standing up shakily.

Fluttershy watched her anxiously. "Do you want me to come with you?" She asked, started to stand, but Twilight shook her head.

"Thanks Fluttershy, but I really just want to be alone." Twilight explained. Fluttershy bit her lip, but nodded and sat back down.

…

_Twilight found herself in front of the beautiful white mare with the feathered wings and huge horn. Again, she stretched her forelegs forward, and dipped her neck. When she looked back up, the mare was watching her with a sad smile._

"_Twilight, I'm so sorry." Princess Celestia spoke. "I tried to communicate to you while you were awake, even though I knew your body wasn't ready for it yet."_

_Twilight nodded. "It's alright. But what did you mean, 'the elements'? I still don't understand."_

_The mare chuckled, and for the first time, extended her wings and leapt into the air. Twilight watched in awe as she circled the room, then landed near a glass window. Princess Celestia gestured to it with her horn. "The elements have been painted into the walls of this room since before any of the elements existed in their destined form." _

_Twilight squinted at the window, but couldn't see it clearly. She figured that wasn't the point. "In their destined form?" She questioned._

_Princess Celestia nodded, starting to walk back over to Twilight. "Yes. Given what happened today, I feel it's unwise to give you too much information at once. But know this; it's my doings that kept the elements safe until this point, but it's up to you and your friends to discover them for yourselves. It will happen in due time."_

_Twilight shook her head. "I want to know more."_

_The princess smiled fondly. "I know you do, but sometimes you have to figure things out for yourself."_

_Twilight could only nod reluctantly. Princess Celestia laughed._

"_Goodnight, my faithful student."_

_As Twilight watched, the dream dissolved into blissful nothingness that continued for the rest of the night._

…

I'm sorry if anything in this seemed off, or if there are minor typos… I wanted to finish it for Monday, but I'm off by about an hour and a half. Usually I go all OCD on chapters and proofread it like a hundred times, but I only ran through the complete thing about three times today. I apologize for the typo in the last chapter, by the way (*sun not run). Running off of three hours of sleep. lol.

Please read and review! I'd love you for it. :D


	5. Chapter 5

I have a stats midterm today at 9am. That's in seven hours. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail. So what do I do? Sleep? Study? Nah - finish a chapter of this, of course!

Thanks Jake-Everfree, y1fellas, and Vacurai78 for reviewing my last chapter! I do respond to all reviews via PM.

Just to let you know: I know absolutely nothing about astrophysics. I'm barely even sure what it is. I'll try to make Twilight sound smart, but I seriously won't have any sweet clue what I'm talking about. Astrophysics just sounded like something Twilight would be interested in. lol. I also know shit-all about rec. management and agricultural studies. I never even took psychology for God's sake. I know the tiniest bit about biology from high school, but, yeaaah. I know I haven't said what Rarity's studying yet, but if you notice she goes into a lot more detail about her studies… well, there's a reason for that. And it has nothing to do with the story and everything to do with the author. :P I'm basing everything at least somewhat off of the requirements for 1st year courses at my university (minus labs cause those are boring).

Now that that's all taken care of… MLP belongs to Hasbro.

…

Twilight's alarm clock went off bright and early, signalling the start of the first day of classes. She sat up in bed, yawned, and switched her alarm off. Although she wasn't sure she could call herself a morning person, Twilight didn't usually have any problems with mornings, provided she had gotten enough sleep during the night.

The first thing Twilight noticed was that Fluttershy's bed was empty, and her pink quilt-like sheets were perfectly made. It was as though it hadn't been touched all night. Twilight figured she must be taking a shower or something, and didn't think anything of it.

Twilight grabbed the papers off of her desk, and sifted through them until she found her schedule for the classes she was taking. Everybody took five courses per semester, and this semester Twilight was taking calculus, physics, psychology, chemistry, and astronomy. Since today was a Monday, she had psychology first at 9am, calculus at 10:30am, then astronomy later on at 7pm.

She headed out the door to shower and brush her teeth, noting that none of the bathrooms were occupied. Where on earth was Fluttershy? She tried not to worry too much about it, and quickly showered, then threw on clothes, dried her hair, and grabbed everything she needed for her first two classes before she headed out of Kismet House.

Twilight held the map again, this time looking for Xanterlot's Dining Hall. She soon realized it might be a bit easier just to follow where the large amount of other students were all heading.

It wasn't long before she had navigated the dirt paths all the way to the dining hall. She entered, expecting to grab a quick breakfast before heading off to psychology. The place was packed with students who also had classes at 9am, making the room buzz with hundreds of students chatting at the same time.

The food was set up buffet style on one side of the room, and there were tables and chairs on the other side. Twilight looked around for an empty table, and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack waving at her from a round table near the front.

Twilight walked over to them. She couldn't help but note the concerned-looking expressions on their faces. "Hi guys." Twilight smiled and sat down for a moment.

"Are ya feelin' any better this mornin'?" Applejack asked on behalf of the group.

Twilight nodded. "I'm really sorry if I worried you. I'm fine." The other four girls smiled in relief. Twilight looked at Fluttershy. "Where were you this morning?" She asked. "You weren't there when I woke up."

"Oh," Fluttershy said, quiet as usual. "Well, you said you wanted to be alone last night, so…"

Twilight stared at her. "So you didn't come home all night?" Fluttershy nodded. "Oh Fluttershy, that's not what I meant at all…" Twilight groaned, feeling terrible. "Where were you, then?"

"She was with me and Pinkie." Rarity explained. "She was insistent on staying for a little longer to give you more time, and she somehow managed to fall asleep in my desk chair!" Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow laughed, causing Fluttershy to blush and Twilight to feel even worse. "We didn't want to wake her up, so we just let her be."

Fluttershy gave a small smile, half of her face hidden behind her blonde hair. "Please don't think anything of it, Twilight." She said sweetly, sensing Twilight's distress. "I really did just fall asleep. I meant to go back and check on you… I'm the one who should be sorry. "

Twilight wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, but was willing to drop the topic with a simple shake of her head. "Just remember for next time that it's your room too, alright?" Her roommate nodded. Twilight smiled back, then looked at the rest of the girls curiously. "You all have 9am classes too?"

They all nodded the affirmative. "I have psychology." Rarity explained, pulling out the same textbook that Twilight had purchased earlier.

"Me too!" Twilight said happily, then took out her own copy of the textbook. The other three girls pulled out the same textbook, and laughed at the similarity. "Are you majoring in it, Rarity?"

Rarity blinked in surprise. "Oh, heavens, no! I'm in the business program. It's my dream to open a fashion company one day." She said, her eyes sparkling with excitement at the thought. "Psychology is just a silly elective."

"Same here!" Rainbow Dash agreed, then quickly added, "The elective part, I mean. Not the fashion part." She looked disgusted, and Rarity shot her a glare.

"Ya'd better hurry up an' get breakfast, Twilight. Classes start in twenty." Applejack suggested. "Pinkie Pie's up there now gettin' seconds."

Twilight nodded, and stood up. She went and made herself a bowl of cereal, and after a bit of searching, saw that Pinkie Pie was at the buffet as well. She had a plate of waffles, and in the process of absolutely drowning them in whipped cream, berries, and syrup.

Twilight walked over to her. "Hey, Pinkie!" She greeted. The poofy-haired girl spun around, and her face broke into a huge grin at the sight of Twilight.

"Twilight, you're okay! I was so worried about you!" Pinkie cried.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Do you have a class this morning too?"

Pinkie Pie nodded excitedly. "Psychology, bright and early!"

Twilight laughed. "Same as all of us, then. Is it an elective?" She guessed.

Pinkie Pie shook her head vigorously. "An elective? No, silly! I'm majoring in psychology!" She said happily.

"Oh… of course you are…" Twilight mumbled.

"Anyways, come on, slowpoke! We've gotta go eat!" She said, and led the way back to the table.

…

Breakfast was quickly devoured, and the six girls managed to navigate their way to the large auditorium where their psychology class was held. They nervously claimed seats next to each other near the back.

At the head of the classroom, a balding old man stood with the support of a cane as he watched the students file in.

"That guy looks like he could drop dead any second." Rainbow Dash whispered, earning giggles from Pinkie and Rarity.

"As long as he knows his stuff, I'm sure it'll be fine…" Twilight said in reply, watching as the clock at the front of the room ticked to the "9:00" position.

"Good morning, class." The man at the front said, gaining the attention of the room. His voice was surprisingly loud for his frail appearance, and he had a very slight European accent. "My name is Dr. Frank Wires. I'm assuming you're all here because you're taking ancient history 101?"

The room filled with an anxious buzz, and the girls all leaned towards Twilight as she pulled out her schedule to double check that they were in the right place.

Dr. Wires chuckled. "I'm only joking! What a gullible bunch I've been given this year. We're all here for psychology 101, correct?"

Most of the students gave small "ohs", or sighs of relief, and collectively nodded. One boy actually was there for ancient history 101, and hurried out of the room.

"It's interesting how we as humans are compelled to believe authority." Dr. Wires continued. "We'll discuss the Milgram Experiment later on in the course. But for now, maybe it would in fact be best to give a brief history lesson. How many students here are in their first year of studies?" Nearly every student in the room raised their hand. "Excellent. How many of you know about Xanterlot's history?"

Not one student raised their hand. Dr. Wires smiled. "To be expected. Xanterlot University was founded back in 1831, primarily by two extraordinary scholars."

"Is he really going to give us a history lesson?" Rainbow Dash whispered in an annoyed tone. Twilight shushed her, interested in what the professor had to say.

"The two scholars were named Dr. John Voli and Sir Lionel Kismet. You'll recognize their last names, as two of the residence buildings here were named after them."

"Yes, the most beautiful residence, and the grungiest." Rarity whispered. "I wish I was in Voli…"

"Rumour has it that they were two very different people, but they worked well together." Dr. Wires continued. "Voli put practices into place to allow students to learn a wide variety of topics. Kismet put together ways for students to grow in the one area they were best at. Choosing majors and electives may seem like common practice now, but back then there weren't as many options to study.

Eventually, conflict arose between the two great scholars. Kismet was upset that students were crowding courses in areas they did not even intend to pursue, while Voli was delighted by this fact. Unable to agree on any ways to fix the problem, Kismet gave up, believing that Xanterlot would fall under Voli's policies.

Xanterlot did begin to fall, but Voli realized his mistakes, and used Kismet's methods to fix the problem by limiting the number of electives students could take."

Dr. Wires paused, looking at the glazed-over expressions of the students. "I suppose we should move onto a brief introduction of the psychology course material…" He brought out a remote, and flicked a button, causing a screen to move down and turn on. A picture of a human brain with several different chemical structures labeled around it appeared. "Our first month or so will be focused on neuroscience. If you took biology in high school, you'll find this pretty simple."

As Dr. Wires rambled on about different chemical makeups of the brain, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie stared at him with confused expressions. Fluttershy, on the other hand, perked up. Twilight was left wishing she'd thought to review biology over the summer.

…

"That wasn't so bad." Fluttershy said cheerfully as they stood outside the classroom after class had ended. The other girls stared at her incredulously.

"I thought psychology was suppost to be about human behaviour and stuff, not science!" Rainbow Dash groaned.

"I don't understand my own major!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed worriedly. "Psychology in high school was nothing like that!"

"It's really not that bad." Fluttershy said calmly. "I can teach you later, if you want."

The other girls thanked Fluttershy profusely. Twilight glanced down at her schedule. "I need to get going to calculus. I'll catch you guys later, alright?"

"You're taking calculus this semester?" Rarity asked, and looked at Twilight's schedule. "Oh, wonderful! We're in the same class!"

The other four girls waved as Twilight and Rarity departed. The two girls quickly located the correct building, and headed inside the classroom labeled on their schedules.

Many students were already there when they entered, and Twilight took a seat next to a boy with longish sand-coloured hair. Rarity sat on Twilight's other side.

The professor walked in shortly afterwards. He was middle aged, with dark hair that was greying in places. He introduced himself as Professor Chris Kobson, and immediately started rambling on about what a limit was.

Twilight picked up her pencil and scribbled down a few notes, but she wasn't sure why she was bothering. "Why do we have to go over the basics? Everyone here's probably already learned this." She muttered to Rarity.

Rarity shrugged. "It makes note taking easy."

As their professor continued to go over the basics of calculus, Rarity gave up on taking notes altogether, though Twilight continued to copy them down just in case.

"Excuse me." The boy Twilight had sat beside whispered to her. Twilight looked over. "I'm a bit confused." He admitted. "Could I look at your notes?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Twilight said, pushing her notepad over to him. He smiled at her gratefully, and began copying them to his own page.

Twilight glanced at Rarity, who was surveying the boy curiously. Rarity's gaze shifted back to Twilight, and the aspiring fashion designer mouthed the words _'he's cute' _with an added smirk. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Thanks." The boy whispered as he pushed the notepad back to Twilight. "I've taken calculus before, but it's been a while. You must be really smart."

Twilight smiled at him. "It's nothing."

The boy smiled back, then turned his attention back to Professor Kobson, and Twilight stole a glance at Rarity, who looked giddy with excitement.

After a rather pointless lecture in Twilight's opinion, the class was over. As Twilight and Rarity exited the building, Rarity grabbed Twilight's arm, stopping her in her tracks.

Twilight looked over, confused. "What is it?"

"We need to see where he goes, of course." Rarity said in a hushed tone.

"Where who goes?"

"That cute boy who said you were smart and smiled at you in class, of course!" Rarity gushed, staring fervently at the sandy-haired boy in question as he walked further and further away from them.

Eventually, he walked into a building with beautiful white bricks. Rarity gasped. "He lives in Voli? Voli's only for upper years, oh Twilight, we need to find out his name!" She continued, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "That's the most prestigious residence on campus! Oh, we'd be able to go to parties there… I hear they throw the best suite parties around!"

Twilight laughed as Rarity went on. "Rarity, don't be ridiculous. All he did was ask for my notes."

Rarity nodded happily. "Yes, that's the first step!"

Twilight couldn't do much but listen in amusement as Rarity continued going on during the entire walk back to Kismet.

…

Am I the only one who got taught the Milgram Experiment in three different classes? I didn't even take psychology! Uh, anyways…

Was the reference in Dr. Wires' speech obvious enough? …It was suppost to reflect that story about Celestia and Luna that was described in the first episode.

Also… I'm the only one of my friends who didn't take psychology as an elective, and everyone who wasn't also taking sciences (including those who were majoring in psychology haha) just flunked the first midterm. They told me it was a lot like biology in high school.

Wish me luck on my stats exam. It's worth 50% of my final grade. Realistically, my only hope is that the school finally fires my prof. He's under investigation because he's really really bad. :D

Read and review! See ya.


	6. Chapter 6

I have an accounting exam in eight hours… guess that means it's time for me to finish this chapter! Thanks to Vacurai78, y1fellas, and Jake-Everfree for reviewing the last chapter! It's much appreciated! :D

I also don't know anything about astronomy. My knowledge of astronomy classes is based off of what's mentioned in Harry Potter… Just saying.

…

After an hour long lecture to introduce the basics of her astronomy course, Twilight found herself in front of a telescope preparing for a pop quiz to test their prior knowledge. First year students were not ordinarily allowed to take astronomy, but Twilight had completed some prerequisites during high school in order to take it this year. She had her schedule for four years organized, and this was the only way she could think of to fit in everything she wanted to take. She had astronomy only on Mondays, from 7pm-10pm.

She tried not to let the older students intimidate her as they went right to work filling in the star chart they had been given with measurements and distances. Twilight worked quickly, alternating swiftly between the telescope and the paper.

Twilight ended up finishing well before some of the other students, which gave her a bit of free time to stargaze. The night sky was clear and beautiful, and the stars twinkled clearly through the magnification of the telescope. Twilight had never used such a high-quality telescope before, and was in awe.

Eventually, her mind drifted beyond the mysterious stars and planets in front of her eyes, and to the many other questions she had gathered in her first few days at Xanterlot. The dreams with the white mare – Princess Celestia, she reminded herself – were still nagging at the back of her mind. What could be the significance of them reappearing suddenly?

When she much, much younger, Twilight used to have similar dreams, though there was far less talking involved. When she was sad, or more often lonely, the beautiful winged mare would comfort her in her sleep. As Twilight grew and learned to become independent, the dreams changed accordingly. Her focus in her studies seemed to have earned her the nickname "faithful student". The dreams became less and less frequent, until Twilight had thought they had disappeared altogether. Until, of course, the last two nights. Twilight couldn't shake the feeling of sincerity that the dreams presented.

Sometimes she would have other dreams where she was again a little purple pony, but Princess Celestia was not present. When she was a child, she would dream that she had unicorn parents and an older brother. She would dream that they loved and cared deeply about her. Once, she dreamt that they were mourning for her.

The images were hard to shake from her mind, and by the time her astronomy professor had dismissed the class, she was starting to question her own decision that they were nothing more than ordinary dreams.

…

_For the third time in a row, Twilight found herself in the huge room, but Princess Celestia was not present. Twilight looked around for her, when a voice suddenly came from behind her._

"_Hiya, Twilight!"_

_Twilight whipped around, and came face-to-face with a short, purple, and strangely adorable bipedal lizard with green spikes running down his back. Twilight took an automatic step backwards, but as strange and unfamiliar as he was, something told her that he wasn't a threat… though it was probably just the fact that he was grinning a huge, genuine smile at her. _

"_My name's Spike!" He said, his clawed hands clasped together politely. "I know we've never met before, but I've heard about you from Princess Celestia."_

_Twilight hesitated. "It's… it's a pleasure to meet you, Spike." She finally decided to say. "What… um... exactly…?" She wasn't sure how to word this question, but Spike seemed to have an answer prepared._

"_I'm a dragon." He said proudly, and blew a small amount of fire from his mouth for emphasis._

_Twilight eyed him skeptically. "I've always imagined dragons as being a bit, well, larger."_

_Spike folded his arms and gave her an annoyed look. "I'm a baby dragon, okay?"_

_Twilight giggled. "Alright, Spike." Something else was nagging in her mind, and she decided she might as well voice it. "Where's Princess Celestia?"_

"_I'm here, my faithful student." Celestia's voice rang across the room. Twilight whirled in circles trying to pinpoint her voice, but could not find a source anywhere._

"_Um, where exactly is 'here'?" Twilight asked._

"_The princess is using her magic to project me here, all the way from Canterlot!" Spike exclaimed excitedly._

"_Twilight," Princess Celestia's voice called out again. "there's been a bit of a… a mishap." Twilight had never heard this sort of anxiety in the princess's voice before, so she was automatically worried. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to bring you here sooner than anticipated."_

_Twilight's face held nothing but confusion. "Again, princess, where exactly is 'here'?"_

"_Like I said!" Spike said, seeming exasperated. "Canterlot!"_

_Twilight stared at him. That name sounded familiar… "Where is Canterlot, then?"_

"_Spike," Princess Celestia's voice boomed, effectively stopping him from speaking. "That is enough for one day, I think." Spike quieted. "Twilight," Celestia continued, "it's important for us to keep in contact, but in your present state, communicating with you takes a lot of effort. If I'm going to be able to prepare you and then get you here, I'll need every ounce of my strength." Twilight was still completely lost, but Princess Celestia continued on. "This is where Spike comes in." Spike puffed his chest out proudly. "You see, Spike has magic of his own that provides very easy communication, even between our worlds."_

_Twilight shook her head. "I don't understand what you mean."_

_Princess Celestia gave a light laugh. "You will, though perhaps not right now. I will send Spike over as soon as I can."_

"_Send him over?" Twilight exclaimed, completely lost. _

"_For now, though, Spike," Celestia said. "I'm going to have to call you back. It's time for Twilight to wake up." Spike nodded, and waved to Twilight, who was still looking bewildered. "Twilight, my faithful student… you'll soon understand. I promise."_

"_Wait!" Twilight called, but the room faded to black, and a loud beeping filled the room._

Twilight opened her eyes, then sat up in bed and turned her alarm clock off. She sat still for a moment, trying to take in what she had just experienced. It wasn't logical that these dreams were something more, but on the other hand, it was just as illogical that they were being so consistent. And they were so… _vivid. _Twilight made a mental note to do more research on dreams.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy's soft voice asked. Twilight glanced over to see her roommate concealed under her covers except for her exhausted looking eyes and tangled hair.

"Oh, good morning, Fluttershy." Twilight greeted, then stood up and stretched.

Fluttershy watched her with a confused expression. "Um, I thought your first class was chemistry with me?"

"It is." Twilight affirmed, going over to her desk and absently running through some papers to make sure.

Fluttershy hesitated. "You… you know that's at eleven, right?"

"That's right." Twilight again said, and turned her attention to trying to find her shower supplies in the closet.

Fluttershy paused for several moments, as if deciding whether or not she should say anything. She opened her mouth, closed it, then finally said, "It's six in the morning."

Twilight nodded, not seeming to understand why Fluttershy seemed so confused. "Yes, it is." She said, glancing quizzically at the other girl. Fluttershy hesitated again, then seemed to give up. She rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.

By the time Fluttershy had awoken for the second time and went off to complete her morning rituals, Twilight had moved onto surfing the internet for information on dreams:

_The Austrian neurologist __Sigmund Freud__, who developed the discipline of psychoanalysis, wrote extensively about dream theories and interpretations. He explained dreams as manifestations of our deepest desires and anxieties, often relating to repressed childhood memories or obsessions._

Twilight thought for a few moments. She had to admit that she didn't have the best of childhoods. Was that all it was? She was reliving her repressed memories? …That somehow took the form of horses and dragons?

Twilight groaned and closed her computer. Truthfully, she couldn't explain any of it, and it bothered her. She was always able to solve things using logic, so why was this so different? She knew that winged unicorns didn't exist, that dragons didn't exist, and above all, that magic certainly didn't exist.

Fluttershy walked back into the room, and eyed Twilight worriedly. "Is something wrong?" She asked, immediately picking up on Twilight's frustration.

Twilight sighed. "It's just I've been having weird dreams ever since I got here, and it's like… well, it's hard to explain." Twilight finished lamely.

Fluttershy stood very still. "Oh." She said in a, if possible, tone that was even quieter than usual. She frowned. "I'm glad it's not just me…"

"You've been having dreams too?" Twilight asked, perhaps a bit too excitedly for the tense atmosphere of the room. "Maybe there's a connection!" At this stage, Twilight was willing to cling to any explanation.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I-I doubt it…" Fluttershy turned her gaze towards the window, which caused her hair to hide her face. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

Twilight looked at the light streaming through the window, a bit taken aback by the topic change. "I-I guess so, but - "

"We should probably get going." Fluttershy turned back to Twilight with a small smile. "We'll need to eat now unless we want to be late."

As Fluttershy started packing up her bags, Twilight hesitated before doing the same. _'Was I just interrupted… By Fluttershy?'_

...

Twilight and Fluttershy met Rainbow Dash and Applejack at breakfast. Rarity and Pinkie Pie both had slightly earlier classes, so they weren't with them. Twilight delved into her breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, but soon realized she and Fluttershy had intruded on an argument.

"Ah really don't get what you see in that boy, Rainbow." Applejack said, waving her spoon accusingly in the direction of the girl with the rainbow-tipped hair. "Ah can tell he and his friends ain't nothin' but trouble."

Rainbow, who had already finished eating, crossed her arms defiantly. "Listen, they're cool, okay? You don't even know them! And besides, I don't like him like _that._"

Applejack scoffed. "Well, that's good, 'cause he was flirtin' with anyone with a skirt Saturday."

"Who are you talking about?" Twilight asked curiously.

Applejack gave a slight nod sideways. "Table far right, an' at the end." Twilight followed her directions, and spotted a group of boys eating breakfast. She recognized two of them as the boys who helped her move in on the first day; Will and Garrett.

"You know them?" Twilight asked Applejack, who nodded.

"Met 'em same night Ah met Dash, here. Seemed to like watchin' her stumble around. They were mighty amused when she attempted tah introduce herself to me, anyways. By the way, still not sure how ya managed to miss meeting Pinkie Pie that night, Rainbow." She eyed Rainbow Dash curiously, then cleared her throat and continued. "Anyways, apparently Ah know them better than you do anyhow."

"You do not!" Rainbow interjected, glaring. "You've never actually hung out with them before, have you?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah'd had more than enough ah them after they tried tah drug me."

"Alcohol isn't a drug!"

"Technically, Rainbow, it is." Twilight stated, causing Rainbow Dash to back off a bit.

"Alright, well, they were just trying to get you to have some fun." Rainbow insisted. "They didn't mean anything of it."

"Yeah," Applejack said sarcastically, "Yeh keep tellin' yerself that. An' I _was_ havin' fun without drinkin', thank you very much."

Rainbow Dash held her glare for a few more moments, then dropped it and stared at the table.

Applejack sighed. "Ah'm sorry Dash. Really, Ah am. Ah'm sorry if Ah was harsh, but Ah'm just bein' honest."

"It's cool…" Rainbow Dash replied, glancing back up. "I still think you're judging too quickly though."

Applejack gave a small smile of amusement, and looked towards Twilight. "What do you think, Twi? An' Fluttershy?" She asked, making sure not to forget the quiet girl.

Twilight noted the nickname Applejack had given her with a small smile before she continued. "I'm not sure…" She said honestly. "I guess they seemed nice enough, but I dunno." Twilight shrugged. Truthfully, there was something about them that made Twilight wary, but Twilight already knew that was just because they were big partiers, while Twilight much preferred a good book to a huge social gathering.

"I don't know them all that well." Fluttershy said quietly, her expression seeming uncertain.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Well, you'll see, Applejack. We have class with some of them next." Rainbow smirked.

"What do you have?" Twilight asked curiously as Applejack shot Rainbow Dash another look.

"Something like gym, I think." Rainbow Dash said, looking at her schedule. "It's called 'physically active living'. Applejack's only taking it for an elective, but _I'm_ taking it because it's required." She said smugly, as if this gave her a leg up in the course.

Applejack grinned. "We'll see just exactly what you can do, short stuff."

"Bring it!" Rainbow Dash said, her eyes shining with anticipation.

As the two quite literally raced off to their class, Twilight and Fluttershy headed off to chemistry. Twilight was hoping that it would be just as dull of a first class as the rest of them had been; perhaps she could use the time to her advantage to do more research.

…

Not sure if PAL is actually like gym at the university level (judging by the description on my university's course selection… it's not. lol), but we're just gonna go with it, k? :D

Dunno how many readers have taken courses at the university/ college level, but they all seem to start off with really boring introductory classes that teach you things you already know. At least, in business they do. Being taught the law of supply and demand in half of my classes was highly unnecessary, to say the least. And A = L + SE? You don't say? In fact, in the math class I took, we were taught basic addition first class, though the language my prof used was so complicated that I didn't understand he was saying 1 + 1 = 2. Ha.

I think I had something else to say, but I forget…

I should probably get to bed. Accounting exam in the a.m. Indirect cash flow statements are a bitch.

Thanks for reading! Drop me a review, if you'd be so kind!


	7. Chapter 7

I have an economics exam in ten hours! It's at 2pm, and it's currently 4am here… I can't sleep. I thought it would be a good idea to drink the rest of my iced coffee, since this is my last night in residence and wasn't planning on taking it with me. That was a very bad idea. I have enough sleeping issues without caffeine. xD

Thanks y1fellas, ReverseSceptile, LaserLens4, and Jake-Everfree for reviewing the last chapter! I'm really grateful that I've gotten such helpful feedback from everybody so far. So thanks a lot! :D

Forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter – that excerpt that Twilight read on Freud was taken from Wikipedia.

Oh… I'm really sorry about this, but I think I forgot to mention in the **warnings** that there would be references to child abuse in this fic. So yeah. You have now been **warned**.

Me no own MLP. :D

…

As the chemistry professor – an older woman with thick glasses – rambled on with some introductory topics, Twilight tuned her out, and was on the internet instead.

Fluttershy glanced over. "You aren't going to take notes?" She whispered.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, she's talking about valence shells for goodness sakes. And before that she was telling us how to read the freaking periodic table." Twilight pointed out, her eyes simultaneously scanning a website that claimed dreams containing unicorns were considered omens of good luck.

"I suppose so…" Fluttershy replied, one hand supporting her head as she watched the woman's lecture with a bored expression.

…

When chemistry had ended and Twilight had still not found any logical explanation for her dreams, she decided to give up. After all, dreams were weird things; maybe they didn't have to have an explanation. Dreams themselves were illogical.

Twilight didn't have another class for a few hours, but Fluttershy had music class, so they went their separate ways. Twilight decided to head over to the dining hall for lunch.

Twilight made herself a sandwich, and this time noticed Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack sitting at the circular table. They smiled as Twilight sat down. "Hi guys!" Twilight greeted.

"Howdy, Twi!" Applejack said, grinning. "How was yer class?"

"Boring." Twilight said, giving a small laugh. "What about you? Weren't you in class with Rainbow and those boys?"

Applejack chuckled. "Dash was sure determined t'prove herself tah them. Boy, let me tell ya, Ah'd never seen anyone run as fast as she did back there. Hoowee! Course, she didn't have much in terms'o endurance." Applejack crossed her arms proudly. "As for them boys, they mostly just ignored me. Chased after Dash the whole time. Ah was happier that way, really."

"Are you talking about those boys Rainbow Dash hangs around?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. At the nod from Applejack, Rarity scoffed. "They're simply uncouth! They tried to spike my drink on Saturday, did you know that?"

Twilight shook her head, looking shocked. "That's kind of illegal, isn't it?"

"Well…" Rarity muttered. "Drinking in itself is illegal, I suppose."

"I think they're nice!" Pinkie Pie announced, smiling.

"Pinkie, you think everybody's nice." Rarity groaned.

Pinkie looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Well, there's nice in everyone, isn't there?" She asked, tipping her head.

A beeping noise suddenly came from Applejack's pocket. She pulled out her cellphone, and looked at it briefly. "It's mah mother. Ah'll be right back, don't y'all go anywhere on me." Applejack headed off to a quieter area of the building.

Rarity watched her go, looking guilty. "I suppose I really should call my parents as well. I haven't spoken to them since I got here, after all. I've just been so busy…"

Pinkie giggled. "Really? Because I've called mine every single day! In fact, I called them last night at one in the morning." She said, smiling. "Time difference and all, it's just easier that way!"

"Yes." Rarity said, giving Pinkie a pointed look. "I know about that Pinkie; we live in the same room. You woke me up."

"Oh, oopsies!" Pinkie said, suddenly wide-eyed and frowning. "I'll remember to be a bit quieter when I call them tonight, or, um…" She trailed off, noticing Rarity's glare was not disappearing. "Or I'll just call them… before you go to sleep…" Rarity smiled in approvement. Pinkie turned excitedly to Twilight. "What about you? Have you talked to your parents much since you've been here?"

Twilight hesitated, her heart sinking. She realized this would come up eventually. "I, well, don't really have parents." She said, unsure how to make the statement any less awkward.

Rarity frowned and looked apologetic for bringing the topic up, but Pinkie Pie just looked confused. "That's not possible. Haven't you ever taken health class?" Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much, or I guess if they've just had too much to drink and forgot to use protection - "

"Pinkie," Twilight quickly interrupted. "I just mean I've been in and out of foster care my whole life. I've never met my biological parents, or had anyone to really call mom or dad."

"Oohhhhhhhhh," Pinkie Pie said, finally understanding. "Well isn't that a coincidence! I've never met my real parents either." She giggled. "But I've had three different sets of adoptive parents! …I was kind of a handful as a kid. But I kind of think it's more fun that way, don't you, Twilight?"

"Uh… I'm not sure…" Twilight said uncomfortably.

"You know." Pinkie Pie said, suddenly intent. "I've talked about this with Applejack and Rainbow Dash before too – they were both adopted as well! Isn't that cool? We're all like, total misfits." She said happily, seeming oblivious to any offensiveness her words may carry.

"Well," Rarity said, "I certainly wasn't adopted. I carry a lot of fortune in my family name! 'Rarity Collinsworth'!" She said, proudly. "I'm going to be a successful business tycoon, just like my father!"

Fortunately for Twilight, Applejack reappeared at the table, which halted the rather unrelateable conversation.

"What did your mom want?" Twilight asked.

Applejack smiled. "Just tah say hi, y'know, she just wanted tah check up 'an all. Must be lonely fer her… Ahm her only child, an' she was never married or nothin' like that." Applejack said, frowning.

"Oh, how fortunate for you, I wish I was an only child!" Rarity exclaimed. "I have an older brother. I miss him, but I certainly do not miss his annoying habit of leaving the toilet seat up."

Applejack sighed. "Y'know, Ah always kinda wanted a big family…"

"Ooh!" Pinkie said, beaming. "Well I have two little brothers and a sister! And before that I had three sisters, two older, and one brother the same age! And before that…"

Twilight sunk in her seat, feeling left out as her friends went on. What was so great about having a family anyways? She'd certainly gotten by fine without help from her good for nothing parents. Though, deep inside, she couldn't help but wonder about the family memories that never were.

…

The next few days flew by rather uneventfully. Twilight's physics class turned out to be dull, but overloaded with homework.

To Twilight's relief, her odd dreams appeared to have stopped. As she was finding out, however, Fluttershy's nightmares were continuing to plague her. For the third time that week, Twilight found herself awoken by Fluttershy's panic-stricken cries. The dark-haired girl glanced blearily at her alarm clock: 2:40am.

"Please…" Fluttershy murmured. "Don't hurt me… G-get away…" She let out a small squeak of terror. "I'm sorry… please, whatever I did, I'm sorry." Her body shook as she sobbed, though she was completely asleep. Twilight watched helplessly. The last two times it had happened, Fluttershy seemed to wake herself up after a little bit, and usually after a bit of comforting from Twilight, managed to get back to sleep fairly quickly. Not once had she ever given any indication of what she dreamed about, other than that they were not pleasant.

Tonight it was going on a bit longer than usual, and Twilight was getting fed up with it. As sympathetic as she was, she wanted answers as to why she was being awoken every second night. Maybe she could help.

Twilight stood up, and carefully made her way over to Fluttershy's bed. "Fluttershy?" She whispered.

"No, please, stay away…" Fluttershy said, panic lacing her tone.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight said in a firmer tone, while gently shaking the other girl's shoulder.

Suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes shot wide open. She let out a terrified scream, and punched a surprised Twilight in the face.

Twilight yelped in pain as she was nailed right in her eye. The force of the blow was enough to knock her over.

"Help! Oh, God, Twilight, are you there? Wake up, somebody's in our room! HELP!" Fluttershy screeched. With her vision blurred and impended by the darkness, it took Twilight a couple seconds to realize that Fluttershy was screaming at the empty bed across the room.

Twilight clutched her eye, groaning. "Fluttershy, for God's sake, I'm down here!" She shouted, clearly irritated.

Fluttershy's head turned abruptly. "Twilight? …Oh! Oh no… Twilight!" Fluttershy said anxiously. "Oh my goodness, I'm so, so sorry…" She rushed to Twilight's side, tears streaming down her face.

There was a loud knock at the door. "Fluttershy? Twilight?" Rainbow's voice yelled. She tried the door, but it was locked. "Are you okay? Hold on, I'll get an RA!" Before Twilight could protest, Rainbow Dash had run off. Twilight bitterly recalled what Applejack said about Rainbow being the fastest in their class, and had to say that she must have been spot on.

"Fluttershy." Twilight said, frustrated. "Would you mind explaining to me what's going on?"

"Oh, Twilight…" Fluttershy said, her voice breaking. "I'm really am so sorry… Y-you just scared me… I would never mean to hurt anyone!"

"No, that's not what I mean." Twilight said firmly. "I want to know why you've been crying in your sleep. That's not normal."

"I-I get nightmares." Fluttershy said quickly. "Oh, goodness, I should really get you a wet cloth." Fluttershy stood up anxiously.

"No, stay here." Twilight ordered. "Fluttershy, I want the truth. I know these aren't normal nightmares."

Fluttershy froze. "I-I don't want to talk about it…"

Rainbow's voice reappeared outside the door. "They're in here! Hurry up, will ya? They could be dead by now!"

"Well?" Twilight pressed her roommate.

Fluttershy looked anxiously back and forth from her door to Twilight. "Okay, okay. I-I-I… I was abused as a child, okay?" Her head drooped. "Sometimes I dream about what my foster parents did to me, and it's really scary." She sniffed pathetically. "Other times, it's kind of, well, different, but - "

The lock on the door clicked open, and Rainbow appeared with a red-haired girl whom Twilight recognized as the same girl who had helped her check in the day she arrived. Fluttershy immediately shut up as they flicked the overhead light on, and looked between the two girls anxiously.

Rainbow walked over and knelt by Twilight. "Jeez, you've got a shiner…" Rainbow Dash commented, and gently touched the spot that Fluttershy had hit. Twilight flinched, and Rainbow Dash let out a low whistle. "What on earth happened? I woke up to you two screaming, then Fluttershy was calling for help! So I went and woke up Marilyn here…" Twilight recalled that the doors on the dorm rooms were fitted with an emergency lock that RAs held the keys to in case of emergency.

Fluttershy froze. Twilight looked between Rainbow and Marilyn briefly before speaking. "I-I knocked my lamp over." Twilight invented. "It hit me in the face, and scared the hell out of Fluttershy. I'm really sorry to have woken everyone…" She glanced backwards at Fluttershy, who looked shocked.

"That's alright… I'll get you a cold cloth for that." Marilyn said, and quickly went off.

"Are you sure you two are okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at them. Both Twilight and Fluttershy nodded, which seemed to be satisfactory. "Well, alright. I'm just looking out for you, okay?"

"Thanks, Rainbow." Twilight said, completely sincere.

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Anytime!"

Marilyn came back with the cloth and held it carefully to Twilight's face. As Twilight took it into her own hands, Marilyn went to leave. "I'm going back to bed." She yawned. "Try to be more careful next time."

"Thank you." Twilight said, and both Marilyn and Rainbow headed out of the door.

As the door closed behind them, Fluttershy managed to choke out. "Thank you, Twilight. I'm so sorry…" Twilight dropped the wet cloth, and embraced the other girl.

"Don't be. Please, don't be…" Twilight murmured, and held her close as she let a few final tears escape from her eyes.

…

Sorry if that was dark. I'm also sorry if Pinkie was a tad blunt on the whole adoption thing. LOL. Please do not take anything she says personally.

Anyways, I guess I should at least try to sleep. I've barely studied for the exam (which is worth 39% of my mark… does that seem random to anybody else?), but my brain is ready to be done school by this point, lol. (By the way, I ended up with a B plus in accounting! Yay! Still waiting for stats to come back.)


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks ReverseSceptile, Alex Barkhorn, and Saleh217 for their reviews! Special thanks to y1fellas for giving me some ideas for (the end of) this chapter! Thanks everyone!

I apologize for the dark nature of this chapter. As a **warning, **Fluttershy describes her past, which contains references to all of the realms of child abuse. Yup. I didn't go easy on the poor thing. I considered not posting it and just skipping ahead, but I'd already written it, so why not. If you don't want to read it, you could probably just skip all of the big paragraphs and read the end part.

Anyways, I don't own MLP!

…

Once Twilight and Fluttershy were once again settled into their own beds, Twilight decided to prompt Fluttershy some more. She knew that this was no easy topic, but she wanted to do whatever it took to help.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight whispered hesitantly.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Listen, I want you to know that I'm here if you ever need to talk."

Fluttershy hesitated. "Thanks Twilight, but - "

"No, I'm serious." Twilight pressed. "Sometimes, you really just need to talk to someone. I know you're afraid that you'll be letting your guard down, but I know that sharing what happened to you is the only way to get it off your chest, and I bet the only way to stop your nightmares. If you don't want to talk to me, then I'll help you find somebody." Fluttershy was silent. "Fluttershy, I know we've known each other for barely a week, but you can trust me. I know that you know that."

"Twilight, I trust you…" Fluttershy said quietly, but didn't say anything else. Twilight was about to let the issue rest for the time being, but she suddenly spoke again. "I-I've never told anybody before. Twilight… could I… could I talk to you, right now?"

Twilight was surprised, but relieved at the same time. "Of course." She responded.

For a couple of seconds, there was silence, except for the sound of Fluttershy's anxious breathing. "I don't remember a lot of my childhood. I don't think I remember my real parents." She finally spoke, though her voice was rather shaky. "I lived in a really bad area. Lots of theft and murder and other terrible things." She shivered. "I-I lived in foster case for most of my life… I don't remember very much at all, but I remember in many of the homes I lived in trying my hardest never to speak. I didn't want to draw attention to myself… it was… it was like, if they knew I was there, they'd hurt me."

Fluttershy paused, and Twilight couldn't help but notice how uneven her breathing was. "Fluttershy," Twilight said carefully. "It's okay if you want to finish later."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, Twilight, you're right. I need to do this." Twilight was impressed by her determined tone, and nodded, urging her to continue.

The blonde girl took a deep breath. "I remember on my ninth birthday, I was moved to another home. They put me under the care of a woman who was probably in her early thirties. She let me sleep on her couch, and she had enough money to feed me. I don't think she liked me, but I was very grateful. I remember noticing she'd come home with awful bruises, but when I asked her about it she'd tell me that it was none of my business… a-and if I were to live in her house, I had to learn my place and shut up.

But Twilight, I found out what they were from. One night, I could hear her fighting with her boyfriend. I was just curious… I was so young… I went to look, and I saw him smack her across the face so hard that she fell to the ground. I got out of there as fast as I could, but he saw me. He was so mad. He caught up with me really fast, and pinned me against the wall by my neck. I can still smell his breath… like cigarettes and whiskey…" Fluttershy shuddered. "He told me that if I ever told anybody what I saw, I was as good as dead. And he said he'd prove it to me, then he threw me to the ground so hard that I thought I might throw up. I was so dizzy, I only barely saw the lamp flying at my head in time to curl up so it hit my back instead. I thought I was going to die, but he left the house. Then his girlfriend came back downstairs… and she was so mad too… mad at me.

I got headaches for weeks afterwards, and the lady who was suppost to be fostering me refused me meals. I stole food when she was out, and I thought she'd never notice. One day, her boyfriend moved in with us. I'd never been more scared in my entire life. He loved picking on me even more than he liked picking on her, but when she went out of the house to work… he did… he did really awful things to me, Twilight. Things no nine year old should ever have to deal with."

Fluttershy went silent again as ashamed tears ran down her face, and this time Twilight didn't say anything. Though Twilight was trying her best to stay strong, tears of horror ran down her face as well.

Fluttershy took another deep breath, then continued. "I guess it went on for a while. Thankfully, my memories of most of it are fuzzy. I remember more vividly how the kids at school used to tease me about my bruises. Kids can be really mean. But one day, he'd been drinking a lot, and I guess he decided he'd had enough of me. He told me he knew one day I'd be brave enough to try to escape and find the police, and he came at me with a gun. I don't know if it was true, but had no choice then; I had to run. I guess he wasn't expecting it, because he sounded really surprised when he yelled at me to stop. He caught up with me before I got to the door, and smacked me over the head with the gun." Fluttershy put her hand on the back of her head. "Right here. I fell down, but I wasn't knocked out. I barely had time to register the pain in my head when he started kicking me really hard in the side. He broke three of my ribs. But when he tried to fire the gun… nothing happened.

I don't know why it didn't work, it just… didn't. Sometimes I think about it… and maybe there really is a god out there somewhere. Anyways, for once, he wasn't mad at me. He was mad at his gun, and he was screaming at it like a lunatic. I knew it was my only chance, so I stumbled towards the door, and I guess it was adrenaline that carried me as far as I went. I was in so much pain… but I woke up in a hospital. Somebody found me on the side of the road, and brought me in. I told them… I told them I was hit by a car, and I was an orphan.

It turned out that any rights the foster lady had over me had been terminated by her that same day. The police suspected that something wasn't right, but I stuck to my story when they questioned me, and it was dropped pretty quickly. And I guess… that's the worst of it." Fluttershy sighed, glancing at Twilight with tired eyes.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight breathed. "This is the first time you've told anybody at all, isn't it?"

The other girl nodded slowly. "Oh Twilight… I was so scared that he would find me and kill me for it like he said he would…" She shut her eyes and shook her head. "It would just be the word of one nine-year-old girl against two adults. It was too risky. Even as a kid I knew that. But he's very, very far away from me now. I'm not as scared." Somehow, Fluttershy managed a small smile.

Twilight blinked back tears. "Fluttershy, I really appreciate you telling me this. It's very brave of you, and I know it must feel good to get that out."

"Thank you for listening, Twilight…" Fluttershy said, then yawned. "You're the only one who's ever listened to me... And I'm so sorry for punching you…" Fluttershy curled up into her blankets, and Twilight watched as she faded into a peaceful sleep.

Twilight was very disturbed by Fluttershy's past, and took a lot longer to finally get into an uneasy sleep. Needless to say, she ended up tapping the snooze button way too many times in the morning, and ended up late.

Fluttershy hovered anxiously by the door as Twilight ran around gathering her things. She barely had time to look in the mirror to see the awful purple mark under her right eye before they rushed out the door.

"I really am sorry about that…" Fluttershy said quietly.

Twilight shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, it isn't your fault." She was a bit worried about what the rest of her friends would say. She wasn't sure that they'd buy the lamp story quite as easily as Rainbow Dash had.

…

"Darling!" Rarity exclaimed, staring at Twilight's face as she and Fluttershy sat down with breakfast. "What on earth happened to you?"

"That looks painful." Pinkie Pie said, tipping her head at Twilight. "Did you get into a fight or something? Cause that would be a really cool story!"

"Sure looks like ya did." Applejack commented, looking concerned. "Someone's got a good arm on 'em. Tell me who done it… I'll get 'em back for ya." She offered, only half-joking. Fluttershy sunk lower in her seat.

Twilight shook her head. "No, girls! I didn't get into a fight." She laughed nervously. "I knocked over my lamp and it hit me in the face. Right Fluttershy?" Fluttershy nodded meekly.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity glanced at one another for a few moments, then burst into laughter. "No, seriously!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I want to know what happened! You can tell us!" The three girls looked eager. Twilight hesitated.

"It's true!" Rainbow Dash interjected. Twilight looked over at the tiny girl, surprised. "I heard it from my room. The lamp must've hit Twilight right in the eye, 'cause she yelled loud enough to wake me up, then there was this crashing sound, and Fluttershy thought there was someone in their room." Rainbow laughed, and Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack joined in after a second. Twilight and Fluttershy glanced at each other, confused. "Yeah, so I was really worried, so I went and got an RA." Rainbow Dash continued. "And there was glass on the floor, and Twilight looked like _that, _and in the middle of it all was this ugly broken lamp!" The four girls were in hysterics, and Twilight and Fluttershy joined in after a few seconds, though they were still very confused, as even from Rainbow's point of view, that wasn't what had happened.

"Oh Twilight, that's simply hilarious!" Rarity said, still giggling. "And what time was this at, Rainbow?"

"Like, quarter to three in the morning!" The girls started laughing again.

"Anyways, we should probably hit the road." Applejack suggested, glancing at the clock that told them they only had a couple minutes to make it to class. The six of them stood up, and as they went to leave, Rainbow Dash grabbed Twilight's arm, halting her in her tracks.

Twilight looked at Rainbow questioningly as the rest of their friends walked ahead. "Listen." Rainbow Dash said in a low voice. "I want to know what really happened last night."

"Hey, Twi, Dash, are y'all comin'?" Applejack called. The four of them had hesitated.

Rainbow Dash waved them ahead. "We'll meet you at class. I have to use the washroom." The four girls nodded and continued out of the dining hall. Rainbow turned back to Twilight. "So, what's the real reason you and Fluttershy woke me up at three in the morning screaming bloody murder?"

Twilight stared at her, the wheels in her brain turning desperately, but ultimately failing at coming up with a legitimate sounding excuse. "…The lamp." Twilight ended up saying almost as a question.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Twilight… what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't try to find out the real reason you have a black eye? I was, well… I was really worried, alright?"

Twilight froze. Did she just say… _friend_? …Friend. Twilight liked the sound of that. She'd never been called a friend before.

"Hello? Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, concerned. "I could tell you didn't want to talk about it last night, or this morning with the others, but now it's just us two."

Twilight blinked. "Sorry, Rainbow." Twilight said, making up her mind. "But… I really don't think I should be telling you the truth."

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, looking like she wanted to say something. "Okay, okay, fine." She sighed. "I heard everything Fluttershy told you last night. I know how you got that black eye. She punched you, didn't she?"

Twilight stared at her as her words sunk in. "You… you what?" Twilight said in disbelief. "Rainbow, she was telling me some really personal stuff, and you were eavesdropping!" She said, a hint of anger in her voice.

Rainbow held her hands up apologetically. "I really wish I didn't, but the walls are paper thin. I couldn't help it, honestly! Blame the engineers... I-I'm sorry." Rainbow furiously wiped at some small tears that had formed in her eyes, and Twilight instantly knew she was being genuine.

"Rainbow… it's okay." Twilight said, softly. "But don't tell Fluttershy, okay?" Rainbow Dash quickly nodded. "Alright… um… friends?" Twilight asked uncertainly.

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Yeah, of course, Twilight! Friends!" She reassured, to Twilight's delight. "Seriously though, a lamp? That's the best you could come up with? Even if I hadn't heard anything, I wouldn't have bought that. Now come on, we're gonna be late… wouldn't want to miss that boring psychology class…" Rainbow groaned, but Twilight laughed, and the two hurried off.

…

I doubt the chapters will get any darker than this one. I guess you never know, and this is by no means a lighthearted story, but eh. I don't really like writing about Fluttershy like that. I feel bad now. lol. I actually tried to put it into third person so you could see more of Twilight's thoughts, but it just wasn't working. So that came out instead. Let me know your opinion!

I'm officially doonneee university! …Now I need a job! It's twenty past five in the morning… I'd really like a graveyard shift. I mean, it's not like I sleep anyways… but then again, when would I update? I nearly got an overnight shift too, but my friend got it instead. Depression. Going to hand out resumes tomorrow/ today.

Read and review! I respond to all signed/ verified reviews (aka if you're signed into your account, I'll respond).


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks to y1fellas, Jake-Everfree, Alex Barkhorn, BlackShock95, WoWMotherFan45, and iPinkNinja for their reviews! Wow! I'm really grateful for all of the feedback, guys!

This chapter's pretty cool to me, simply because I've never gone beyond eight chapters in a fanfiction before… new record! I've also just reached over 2000 hits on this story, which is super cool.

I mentioned in chapter seven that "a few days had passed", but I meant to confirm that it was Friday in chapter eight and completely forgot. Sorry. It's Friday, folks, not Wednesday! (or any other day :P)

…

Twilight and Rainbow Dash made it to psychology right before Dr. Wires started his lecture. They quickly took seats beside the others. Twilight pulled out a notepad, and was eager to take notes, while Rainbow kept her head supported with one arm and looked bored.

Dr. Wires started to rattle on about how neurons interacted with each other within the brain. Unlike the last two classes the girls had attended, Dr. Wires was not using any sort of powerpoint presentation to support his lecture. This made it more difficult to follow along, but it also made Twilight notice something.

On the wall that would usually be hidden behind the large screen, there was an engravement of their school's name – except it was missing the first letter, so it simply read "anterlot". Where there would normally be an X, there was a marking somewhat similar to a long apostrophe, but it didn't resemble anything close to the letter X.

Twilight stared at the weird marking, confused on why it would have been put there instead of the letter X. She shook the thoughts out of her mind, and tried to focus on the lecture.

With twenty minutes left in the class, Dr. Wires stopped in his lecture, and looked around the room. "Now then… are there any questions about today's class?" What Twilight really wanted to know about was the odd engravement, but the question didn't have any relevance to the lecture, so she wasn't brave enough to ask it.

To Twilight's surprise, Rainbow's hand shot up. Dr. Wires smiled at her. "You have a question, miss…?"

"Rainbow Dash, sir!" Rainbow said proudly. A few of the students in front of them murmured to each other and glanced backwards, obviously intrigued by her odd name. "And I was just wondering, what's up with the weird engravement in the back of the class? Did they seriously forget to put the X in our school's name?" Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. Twilight realized she was far from the only one to notice, as nearly the entire class muttered their agreement to one another.

Dr. Wires simply smiled. "Ahh, a good question, Miss Dash. I was hoping somebody would ask me that." He turned to look at the engravement briefly. "This engravement is an imitation of the original name that inspired the two founders of our school to name it Xanterlot University. You see, there was only one building that was here before the founding of the university, and that building was what is now part of the school's library."

Twilight perked up curiously, but Rainbow slumped in her seat, realizing she'd set off another history lesson.

"The two founders, who as you may recall, were named Kismet and Voli," Dr. Wires continued, "were both greatly inspired by this library. It's been said that this library held many strange and insightful books, but the most mysterious part was that there was no records of it ever being built, nor did it have a legal owner. All it had was a name – or, at least, part of a name." He gestured to the engravement. "Clearly, a letter was missing, but the two founders could not agree on which letter it was suppost to be. Panterlot? Ganterlot? Canterlot?"

Twilight had a sudden rush of realization as he said the last name; Canterlot. That was the name from her dream!

Rarity, who was on Twilight's right, looked intrigued. "…I think that's what it was, for whatever reason… Canterlot."

"Yeah, that sounds really familiar to me…" Rainbow, who was on Twilight's other side, agreed, seeming suddenly interested in what the old professor had to say.

"To settle their differences," Dr. Wires continued, "They simply put an X in the place of the missing letter. In reality, the X in Xanterlot is no more than a placeholder for a letter that nobody is quite sure of. Nonetheless, when the founders bought out the library, and eventually the rights to build a university, Xanterlot is was called." Dr. Wires smiled at his class. "In fact, the books that were in the original library can still be found in Xanterlot's library today. Now then, since it's a Friday, I suppose I can let you all out a bit early. Have a good weekend, and be sure to read the next chapter for Monday!"

The six girls leapt up as soon as they were dismissed, and headed outside. As five of the girls started walking away, Twilight veered off slightly.

"Twilight?" Applejack asked, noticing as the other girl separated from the group. "Where're ya goin'?"

"To the library." Twilight said, looking at the five others, who had stopped. "I want to know more about what Dr. Wires said in class today."

"You mean about neurons?" Pinkie Pie asked, speaking in her usual fast pace. "Because I found that really confusing too, I guess maybe I should do some extra studying at the library this weekend too, I mean, if I can't understand it now, I'll never understand the next chapter, because they build off of each other and everything, and - "

"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, staring at the hyper girl with an annoyed expression. "Twilight's obviously talking about the whole Xanterlot name thing."

Twilight nodded at Rainbow Dash. "I'm just curious about it, I guess…" Twilight said, not wanting to go into further detail. After all, her theories made little sense even to herself.

"Twilight," Rarity said anxiously. "We have calculus in fifteen minutes."

Twilight nodded. "I'll meet you there. It won't take long."

"Well, alright." Rarity agreed. The five girls said their goodbyes, and headed off.

The library wasn't far from the psychology lecture hall, so Twilight quickly found herself at the entrance. She hadn't noticed it the first time she had entered, but under the sign that labeled it "Library", there was an engravement identical to the one in her psychology class, though this one looked a good deal older.

She entered, and immediately delved into the rows of neatly organized bookshelves. Twilight wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, but after a few minutes, she realized that the library was far too big for any hope of stumbling on the original books before she had to go to calculus.

Twilight approached a woman who was working at the desk of the library. "Excuse me," Twilight said, causing her to glance up, "I had a psychology class today, and my professor mentioned that the books that were in the original library were still here… I was just wondering if you knew where they were?"

The woman nodded uncertainly. "I've been told that they are, but I'm not sure if we have a particular section for them…" Twilight watched nervously as the woman typed a few words in on her computer, then glanced back up. "I'm sorry… I've never had a student ask me about them before. Unless you know the exact titles, I'm afraid I can't help you much."

"That's alright… thanks anyways." Twilight sighed, figuring she might as well give up. Since she still had a few minutes before she had to head to calculus, she wandered around the library just to get more of a feel for it. She didn't find anything, but was impressed by it anyways. There were lots of areas designed for studying, with specific rooms for things like quiet areas and group projects. Twilight got the feeling that she'd be spending a lot of time here.

By the time Twilight had gotten to Calculus, most of the class was already seated. She scanned the room for Rarity, and noticed she was talking fervently to the same sandy-haired boy that had sat next to Twilight last class.

Twilight went and sat next to Rarity, who turned towards her with a huge smile. "Oh, there you are, Twilight!" She exclaimed, then patted the sandy-haired boy on the head. "Kyle here was just telling me all about his _suite _in _Voli_." Rarity said, her eyes practically glowing with excitement.

Twilight gave a small smile to the boy. "That sure sounds nice. My name's Twilight, by the way."

"Oh, it is nice!" Rarity cut in before Kyle could say anything. "Wouldn't it be just wonderful to live in a suite, Twilight? Goodness, I'd give anything just to visit one for a _night_…" Rarity said, giving Kyle her best pout.

Kyle glanced over at Twilight, and both of them laughed. "Well," Kyle said, "You could come over tonight, if you want - "

"REALLY?" Rarity squealed, causing several students to glance over at them. "I mean, um," Rarity continued in a much softer tone. "That's such a nice offer! What do you think, Twilight?"

Twilight nodded. "That's really nice of you, Kyle. I've never been inside of Voli before. Would it be okay if a few of our other friends came too?" She smiled, and Kyle smiled back.

"Sure, it's no problem." Kyle continued. He lowered his tone as Professor Kobson walked in and started drawing equations on the board. "Me and my suitemates haven't met a whole lot of people yet. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to have company on a Friday night."

Rarity beamed at him gratefully, then the three were forced to pay attention as their professor droned on for the rest of the class.

When the class was finally over, Rarity left it still giddy with excitement. Twilight and Kyle watched in amusement as she walked slightly ahead and babbled on about how wonderful Voli was, and how grateful she was to finally get to see it.

"Is she always like this?" Kyle whispered to Twilight, who laughed.

"Actually, no." Twilight answered honestly. "I've never seen her this excited before."

Kyle chuckled. "Well, it makes me feel good to make somebody so happy."

Rarity seemed to remember that the other two were there, and she whirled around. "Oh, I guess we'll have to split up now." She commented, noticing that the beautiful white-bricked building that was Voli was coming up in front of them. "But we'll see you tonight, right Kyle?" She asked, smiling.

Kyle nodded the affirmative. "Of course. Meet me by the Voli entrance at eight o'clock sharp."

"Okay!" Rarity called, waving as he started walking away. "Goodbye, then!"

Kyle waved to Rarity, then turned his gaze towards Twilight. "I'll see you later, Twilight." He said, smiling. Twilight waved at him and smiled back. He held eye contact with her for long enough to make Twilight notice the odd length, then he broke it off and walked away.

As he headed out of earshot, Rarity turned on Twilight. "Oh, I can't believe he actually invited us over." She gushed. "Twilight, I have this absolutely gorgeous dress that I could lend you for the night… I might have to do a few adjustments on it, but it really shouldn't be much of a problem!" She said excitedly.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "Thanks Rarity, but I don't think this is really a formal occasion – "

"You're right!" Rarity said instantly, her eyes wide. "That might be overdoing it a bit. Well, no matter, I'll help you pick out an outfit. And I'll do something with that hair." She added, flicking a strand of Twilight's straight hair skeptically.

Twilight laughed and, though a bit reluctant, agreed. She figured there was no use arguing with Rarity much more while she was in this sort of mood. The excitement was apparently contagious, since Twilight couldn't help but feel excited for the night as well. She was ready to forget about her worries for the time being – after all, it was their first Friday at Xanterlot, and the anticipation was no doubt spread across the campus.

…

I meant to make it longer and more interesting, but I really wanted to post it… well, I really wanted it to be up yesterday, but that didn't happen. I've been strangely busy for somebody who's unemployed (still looking for a job. I have an interview at a movie theatre not too far away on Thursday, so that's kind of cool! But I'd really just like to know I have something to do for the next four months, you know?). So… I really wanted it up for tonight.

SO ANYHOW, I'd like to give a huge shout-out to Alex Barkhorn and his MLP fic entitled "My Little Pony: Torn Between Two Worlds". If you haven't heard of it yet, I'd highly recommend it. It tells the story of how one brony's life changes when the mane six suddenly appear in his bedroom – in human form, which in itself carries a lot of adjustments, which have been shown to be anywhere between frustrating and utterly hilarious. Anyways, it's one of my favourites, so if you like my story, you're bound to like his as well.

Until next time… read and review! :D Thanks a lot!


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone! I'm bad at this deadline thing, sorry. I meant to have it up on Friday, lol.

Thanks to Timon64, Alex Barkhorn, Jake-Everfree, y1fellas, and Endymion Blue for their reviews! PEOPLE WHO REVIEW ARE THE BEST PEOPLE EVER. People who have gotten this far in my fic are pretty awesome too, though! (If you've done both, you are above the awesomeness scale. That's how awesome you are).

This is my longest chapter yet. It was suppost to be one of the shortest, so I'm not sure how that happened… so, uh, clearly it'll be a tad… fluffy? Is that the right term? Yeah. Sorry. It'll pick up… you'll see by the end.

(MLP is owned by Hasbro, which I sadly don't work for. I also sadly don't work for anybody at all. D:)

…

At supper, Rarity eagerly explained her plan for the night, which the others (with grins at Rarity's enthusiasm), agreed to.

Shortly afterwards, Twilight found herself working on practice calculus problems back in her room. Eight o'clock was still a bit more than two hours away, so Twilight wasn't worrying herself about it yet. Fluttershy was nearby, cleaning Fin the betta fish's bowl. Twilight noticed that the little fish was looking a lot more impressive since Fluttershy had gotten him a week ago. Fin's colour was no longer pale, but a bright ruby-red. His fins, while nowhere near perfect, were starting to heal, and he spent much of his time swimming protectively around his bowl showing them off to anybody who came near. Fluttershy was happy to dote on the little creature, and it was obvious that whatever she was doing was working wonders.

For a few moments, Twilight was forced to pause in her work as there was a bit of a commotion outside.

"You aren't drinking tonight?" Garrett's voice asked, and he and Will laughed. "That's what they all say, Rainbow."

"I'm serious." Rainbow Dash said, sounding annoyed. "I'm going out with some friends to Voli tonight."

"Voli?" Will asked. "Why would you want to go to Voli? Everyone there is either stuck-up rich or so smart that they got a huge ass scholarship."

"Read: boring." Garrett added.

"I'll do whatever you guys are doing tomorrow, but for today, I'm going to Voli. You aren't going to change my mind." Rainbow said stubbornly.

Though reluctant and rather ticked off, the two boys seemed to realize there was no persuading her, and gave up, allowing Twilight to get back to calculus. While she was getting through most of the assigned problems easily enough, there came a point where she had to sift through the textbook for instructions. She kept her head low as she skimmed the pages, unaware that this left her in a vulnerable position.

"HEY TWILIGHT!"

"AHH!" Twilight whipped around, her hand covering her pounding heart as she took note of her assailant with an annoyed expression. "Pinkie! How did you get into my room?"

"Through the door!" Pinkie Pie said, pointing happily at it. "You really shouldn't leave it open like that. You never know who could find their way in!"

"...Mmhmm…"

"So, anyways," Pinkie chattered on, "You and Fluttershy should come over to my room slash Rarity's room, because we need to get ready for tonight!" Pinkie said, beaming. "Speaking of which… where is Fluttershy?" The poofy-haired girl said, frowning briefly as she attempted to locate the other girl.

Twilight glanced at the half-full fishbowl. "She's probably changing the water." Twilight explained, gesturing to where Fin swam around, a bit disoriented by his living space being cut in half. "She'll be back in a sec."

Pinkie Pie smiled, and briefly traced her finger on the glass of the fishbowl. "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, smiling. "Come visit us soon, Twilight!" With that, she skipped out of the door.

Fluttershy came back moments later with a pitcher filled with water. Twilight watched as she gently poured the water into the fishbowl. Fluttershy seemed to notice the eyes on her back, for she glanced backwards at Twilight questioningly.

"Pinkie Pie came to visit." Twilight explained. Fluttershy nodded slowly, waiting for her to elaborate. "She wants us to go over to their room to get ready for the night."

Fluttershy smiled. "That sounds nice. We should go over."

Twilight sighed, but nodded in reluctant agreement. She wasn't sure what the point of taking two hours to get ready for anything was – especially if they weren't going anywhere particularly important – but she went over with Fluttershy nonetheless.

When they had arrived, Twilight opened the door to find that Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to change outfits in the two minutes they were apart. She was now wearing both a pleated pink summer dress and her usual huge smile. Rarity waved at her guests briefly, then turned her attention back to the sewing machine positioned at her desk.

"Oh good, you came!" Pinkie sang, and presented Twilight with some sort of fruity drink in an actual martini glass. "Hold on Fluttershy, I'll get something for you." She zipped off to look for another glass.

One curious sip was all it took to tell Twilight that the drink was alcoholic. It was actually pretty strong, and Twilight coughed a bit in surprise. "Pinkie, this was really nice of you, but I don't drink."

"I don't either." Fluttershy said quickly before Pinkie Pie had the chance to mix anything else.

Pinkie Pie paused. "Oh, me neither! Well, at least, not a lot." She giggled, and took the drink from Twilight's hands. "I tried it once, and that was, um… kind of emotional. I'm better off without it. Silly me, making assumptions that I was the only one!" She admitted, and tapped a finger on her chin. "Now, what am I suppost to do with this martini…"

"Give it to me, Pinkie." Rarity said. "Lord knows I'll need it… and besides, you did use my alcohol." Pinkie happily put the glass beside Rarity's sewing machine.

Twilight watched the fashionista with interest. "What are you doing, Rarity?"

Rarity sighed. "Just fixing up a favourite skirt of mine… I thought I'd wear it tonight, but the hem had come undone a bit… there!" She said, removing the skirt and snipping the strings efficiently away. "All done!"

"Rarity's super good at sewing!" Pinkie exclaimed. "She made the dress I'm wearing!"

Rarity initially smiled at the compliment, but her expression changed as put the drink Pinkie had made to her lips. "Pinkie…" Rarity said, coughing similarly to how Twilight had. "This is not a martini. And how much of my vodka did you use?"

"Um…" Pinkie said, thinking. "About a quarter of it."

Rarity carefully put the drink down. "Mixology isn't your thing, sweetheart."

"I know!" Pinkie Pie said, not disheartened in the slightest. "My thing is partying!" She jumped seamlessly from the floor, to her chair, and then to her desk, and flicked the switch on some speakers that were hooked up on the very top shelf of her desk, causing music to blast out of them.

For a while, Rarity was content with throwing different clothes at Twilight and Fluttershy and insisting that they try everything on, but after a while she became on edge. "Pinkie, you did tell Rainbow Dash and Applejack to come over, didn't you?"

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! But just in case, I'll go remind them." She said, then headed out of the door.

Rarity sighed and took a long sip from the martini glass. "Alright. Fluttershy, come here." Fluttershy hesitantly obeyed, and Rarity proceeded to attack the quiet girl's hair with a curling iron. "Just a bit…" Rarity insisted. "So it curls the other way…"

Fluttershy gave a small smile. "Okay."

"Pinkie!" Applejack's voice carried in from the hallway. "Let go ah me!"

Pinkie Pie re-emerged into the bedroom, dragging an overwhelmed-looking Applejack behind her. "Found her!" Pinkie announced happily, then promptly exited again, presumably to retrieve Rainbow Dash.

Applejack sighed and took a spot on Rarity's bed, opposite to Twilight. She clearly wasn't as preoccupied as Rarity was about looks, as she was wearing old jeans and a button-up plaid shirt. Her hat, however, was replaced by a beautiful waterfall braid that started at the left side of her head and ended over her right shoulder.

Rarity glanced over at the new guest, and though she initially raised an eyebrow at Applejack's seemingly unchanged attire, she froze as she noticed the braid. "How did you do that!" Rarity exclaimed. She nearly dropped the curling iron midway through a strand of hair in her surprise, causing Fluttershy to squirm in discomfort.

"Uh…" Applejack said, slightly distracted from watching Fluttershy desperately pull the iron out of Rarity's grasp before it could burn her head. "Yah mean this?" She pulled on the end of her hair, and Rarity nodded vigorously. "Oh, heh, this ain't othing'. Just a braid."

Rarity gaped. "Do that to Twilight." She insisted, pointing at Twilight to illustrate her point.

"Me?" Twilight questioned.

Applejack chuckled. "Certainly. If that's okay with ya, Twi."

"Oh… sure." Twilight said, surprised. "If it's not any trouble…"

"Course not!" Applejack insisted, and smiled as she got up. "Take a seat on the floor so Ah can sit behind ya on the bed."

Twilight did so, and Applejack went straight to work. Though Twilight was initially uncertain, she quickly relaxed as Applejack worked on organizing her hair. It was oddly soothing just to sit and allow Applejack to work while watching Rarity apologize profusely to Fluttershy before insisting she do her makeup as well. Predictably, Fluttershy's twitchiness made this a difficult task, and Twilight and Applejack couldn't help but laugh at Rarity's frustrated expression. Even Fluttershy and Rarity laughed along when Fluttershy ended up with a thin black line an entire inch under her eye after Rarity came at her too quickly with the eyeliner.

By the time Pinkie Pie had appeared with a very annoyed-looking Rainbow Dash, the four girls were in hysterics. Twilight couldn't pinpoint the cause of the contagious laughter, but for once she didn't care about the reasoning; it was plain old fun.

Pinkie leapt on top of the bed behind Twilight, and joined Applejack as she laughed at the ceiling. Rainbow crossed her arms, completely confused. "What are you all laughing at? And why do we have to get ready to go out anyways? Aren't we just going to some chump's dorm room?"

"Oh Rainbow!" Pinkie said in between her giggles. "The point of getting ready isn't to make yourself look good!"

"It isn't?" Rainbow and Rarity asked simultaneously.

"No," Twilight explained, laughing. She looked briefly at Pinkie Pie, who was smiling widely at her. "It's to have fun with… with friends. Right, Pinkie?"

"Right!" Pinkie said proudly. Rainbow Dash finally cracked a smile, and though she wouldn't let Rarity anywhere near her, she still managed to enjoy the process of "getting ready".

…

Eight o'clock eventually rolled around, and the six girls finally found themselves inside of the esteemed Voli. Kyle led them into his room, which was several times bigger than any of theirs in Kismet. There was a large area for entertaining in the center, with separate bedrooms and a private bathroom.

Rarity squealed in delight and threw herself onto one of the couches. "Oh, this is so wonderful!" Rarity exclaimed, her eyes shining. "Thank you so much!"

"It's no problem." Kyle reassured for what must have been the tenth time. He gestured for the other girls to sit down, and then he took a seat next to Twilight. He glanced down at her, and smiled when they made eye-contact. Twilight reciprocated the smile after a moment of hesitation. From across the room, Rarity beamed and gave Twilight a thumbs up when Kyle was looking elsewhere, which Twilight didn't quite understand.

Kyle's two suitemates peeked out from their respective rooms, and Kyle promptly introduced them as Scott (a heavier boy with blonde hair) and Jared (a lanky boy with long dark hair and a slight acne problem). As the girls each introduced themselves (Twilight filled in for Fluttershy, who was eying the newcomers anxiously), all three of the boys looked at them with rather confused expressions.

"So, those are all nicknames, right?" Jared asked.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Uh, no. Our names are the real deal, buddy." It was easy to tell when Rainbow was annoyed with something, and Twilight understood her frustration only too well. She was fairly certain that the others felt the same way too, seeing as none of them had ever brought up this odd similarity that they all shared.

Kyle smiled. "That's really cool. I wish my name was that unique." He admitted.

Rainbow Dash's attitude changed almost immediately. "Yeah, that sucks for you. Being unique is seriously awesome." She said proudly.

Scott and Jared quickly agreed, and the topic was promptly changed to something else. The two boys innocently sat by Rarity on the couch, and she immediately started complimenting them and their "glamorous suite". Twilight doubted that any flirting on Rarity's part was intentional, but the girl's charm had the two of them glued to her for the rest of the night irregardless.

Eventually, the topic landed on sports, and while the boys were having fun debating which teams were better with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the other girls' expressions quickly glazed over

Kyle nudged Twilight slightly, seeing her lack of attention. "So, what did your parents name you after?" He asked the question quietly, which allowed the others to continue their conversation on sports.

Twilight shrugged. "I've never met my real parents, so I guess I'll never know."

"Oh," Kyle said, taken aback for only a second. "I'm sorry." He continued sympathetically. "It's too bad they never got to see what a smart and beautiful girl you've become." He put one of his hands over Twilight's in a comforting gesture. Twilight felt an uncomfortable heat rise in her.

"U-um, that's really sweet of you…" Twilight said uncertainly in a Fluttershy-like tone.

Kyle shook his head. "I'm serious. They'd be really proud of you." He gave a short laugh. "Unlike _my_ parents. I'm just a huge failure in their eyes… I wasted all last year chasing an arts degree just to switch into physics. Man, if I could just remember how to do calculus, I'd be set…"

"Oh," Twilight said, grabbing onto the topic change. "Calculus isn't so bad, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

Kyle shrugged. "Maybe with your help?"

Twilight hesitated. "Um, sure. So, uh, what made you switch into physics anyways?"

Kyle laughed. "Well, I dunno. I just didn't like arts. Physics in high school was fun…" He shifted closer to Twilight, who in turn shifted ever so slightly backwards. "What about you? You must have a better reason than I do for being in that calculus class."

"I'm taking astrophysics…" Twilight said carefully. "I've been interested in astronomy since I was really young."

"Ahh." Kyle mused, his eyes lighting up. "I love space too… Maybe we could look at the stars together sometime?" He suggested lightheartedly. "I know you haven't spent much time around here yet, but you get a really clear view just off of the campus. And you could teach me calculus while you're at it." He added jokingly.

"Oh, I-I… I'm not sure, I mean, I'm – "

"Hey, guys." Applejack said suddenly, which gained the room's attention. "It's gettin' pretty darn late. Ah think we ought t'get back soon." She said with a yawn.

"Yeah, you're right." Twilight said, standing up suddenly. "Gosh, look at the time…" She gestured to the clock, which read 11:06pm. "It's been so nice of you guys to let us hang out here!" She said, flashing a smile.

The other five girls got up and said their thank-yous as well. After quick good-byes, the girls were out the door and on their way back to Kismet.

"Thanks Applejack." Twilight sighed. "I owe you one."

"S'no problem, sugercube." Applejack said, looking a bit concerned.

"My my my!" Rarity chided. "That Kyle boy was certainly all over _you_ tonight, Twilight."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "You're one to talk. You had those two others drooling at your feet!"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "I cannot help it if I give off a certain… charm." She said dismissively. "Oh, but Twilight, he's a catch! The two other boys so graciously told me that his family is exceedingly wealthy, and he's just so polite and handsome!"

"…I don't know." Twilight said honestly. "I mean, he's nice and all, but… well, I dunno, he's just – "

"Creepy?" Applejack suggested.

"Cocky?" Rainbow Dash added.

"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie said, her eyes brightening. "I love this game! He, he, uh, he comes on super strong which is a bit cocky with a small dash of creepy?"

"Well, seeing as I don't know him at all… kind of, I guess." Twilight admitted.

Rarity laughed. "Well, don't you worry, you see him three times a week in calculus, after all." Twilight realized she was right with a jolt, and sighed anxiously.

"Ahh, don't you worry none." Applejack reassured. "Ah'm sure he'll get over ya real fast if ya aren't interested."

Twilight nodded as the three girls entered Kismet. Will, Garrett, and a good twenty other people were crowded in the first floor Kismet lounge, and Garret waved Rainbow Dash over as soon as he noticed her.

"Eh, why not." Rainbow Dash said with a shrug, and started walking towards him. "Night guys!"

"Wait up!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily, and followed Rainbow in. "There's people I've never met in there!"

The four remaining girls headed upstairs. Fluttershy hesitated as Rarity and Applejack started to head to their end of the hallway. "Um, Rarity?" She asked softly. Rarity paused and turned around. "If it's not any trouble… I think I left my sweater in your room. Would you mind if I…?"

"Oh, not at all, Fluttershy!" Rarity said, and waved the blonde girl forward.

"I'll be right back, Twilight." Fluttershy said.

As Twilight opened the door to their room, the first thing she noticed was that their lights were on. This was a bit peculiar, since Twilight never left without shutting them off, but she didn't think much of it.

"_Finally!"_ A voice that sounded like it belonged to a young boy echoed across the room. "I was wondering if you'd ever get back. I've been waiting here forever!"

Twilight's eyes frantically searched her room for a source, and when she finally found it, she covered her mouth to keep from screaming and backed up until she was flat against the door.

"What?" The little purple dragon from her dreams asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've met me before. I'm Spike, remember?"

…

:O

So yeah, if any chapter describes my university weekends, it's this one, LOL. The original plan (which I actually drew out, impressively enough) was basically to hook the last half of this chapter to the last chapter, but I separated it because I thought it would be too long. Then I thought just the Voli part by itself would be too short, so I wrote in them "getting ready", which was just fun to write, hahaha. Getting ready to go out always ends up being more fun than whatever happens when you go out.

Also, I'm well known among my friends for somehow attracting the creepiest guys. I don't even know how it happens. But they stalk me. And it's CREEPY. Kind of glad I don't have to deal with that for a few months, hahaha. Kyle in particular is partially based off of the guy who I let copy off of me in stats… oh man that's a long story, I'll just shut up right there.

So… next chapter, Friday? I mean, I really do want to start a Tuesday and Friday schedule, but there's no way a chapter's gonna be up by Tuesday. Plus I'm terrible with schedules… so let's make this an experiment.

Thanks for reading! See you later!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! Look who made the deadline! :D Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter: y1fellas, Endymion Blue, Alex Barkhorn, AlbinoHamster, Jake-Everfree, and Timon64!

I don't own MLP!

…

Twilight stared incredulously at the little purple dragon, her heart pounding. She had doubts that the creature even reached two feet in height, even with the large green spikes running from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. It was absolutely identical to the one from her dreams… although this one was undeniably real.

"No…" Twilight breathed. "This… what… I-I…"

Spike looked worried. "Um, Twilight? Are you okay?"

Twilight panted, her mind searching wildly for an answer while her body continued to press itself against the door. "You don't exist." She said, as if hoping that this realization would make everything go back to normal.

"Uh…" Spike said, raising an eyebrow. "Yes I do?"

Twilight hesitated, then took a cautious step forward. Then another. Spike didn't move, but simply watched as the girl came closer to him. When Twilight finally reached him, she sunk to her knees, and held out a shaky hand to him.

Spike looked more weirded out than anything as Twilight touched his scaly forehead then promptly retracted her hand. She stared at him, her hazel eyes wide and confused. Somehow, the small, illogical part of her that knew this might happen was correct. "How did you get here?" She whispered.

Spike grinned. "Princess Celestia sent me. Remember? She told you the other night that she was going to send me over."

Twilight shook her head and groaned. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Sure it does!" Spike said happily. "I mean - " Spike paused suddenly, and clasped a clawed hand over his mouth. Twilight was certain he was about to vomit, and backed up in alarm. This ended up being a smart move for a different reason, as the tiny dragon belched out a series of green flames that licked the air and very nearly caught on her wooden desk. Twilight screeched in alarm as she felt the heat in front of her face, but the flames were gone as suddenly as they had appeared. Twilight stared in shock at Spike, who was nonchalantly reading a scroll that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He glanced back at her. "It's for you." Spike explained, and handed the scroll over.

Stunned, Twilight reached forward and accepted the scroll with shaky hands. It was written in a fancy handwriting:

_To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:_

_This letter is to make sure that Spike made it over to your world safely. I'm sure you're a little bit overwhelmed right now, so I'll make this brief. In your absence, I have acted as a surrogate caregiver for Spike since he was an egg. While he's in your care, try to watch over him. As I'm sure you've already figured out, he has the ability to send letters anywhere – even across worlds! I know you two will get along just fine._

_Please write back as soon as possible to confirm Spike's safe arrival. I will be in touch with you again at a later date._

_-Princess Celestia_

"Heh," Spike said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "She worries about me too much. So, uh, do you have a quill?" He asked, glancing around.

"…A quill?" Twilight asked incredulously, but before she could say anything further, the door creaked open, and Fluttershy walked in, yawning and carrying her sweater.

Twilight and Spike froze as Fluttershy's gaze landed on the purple dragon. "Oh… Twilight." She said, smiling. "I didn't know you had a pet lizard… he's adorable. Um, but you know we aren't allowed to keep those in our dorm rooms, right?"

"Lizard!" Spike yelled, crossing his arms and puffing his tiny chest indignantly. Twilight glanced back and forth between the insulted dragon and her surprised roommate desperately, but had no idea how to deal with this situation. "I'm not a stinking lizard! I'm a dragon!" He finished, and blew a small cloud of smoke for emphasis.

"O-o-oh…" Fluttershy said, frowning. "I'm so very sorry… I didn't mean to insult…" Her eyes widened as the oddness of the situation finally seemed to catch up with her strong instinct to apologize, and she clutched desperately at the closet beside her for support. "Did… did you just talk?" She gasped. Twilight feared the shy girl might pass out, so she stood and guided her to her bed, where she sat staring at Spike with huge eyes that held both fear and curiosity.

"Yup!" Spike grinned. "The name's Spike! You must be Fluttershy… I know we haven't met like me and Twilight had, but the princess told me you were Twilight's roommate."

"…U-um… that's… right…" Fluttershy looked desperately to Twilight, clearly praying for an explanation.

Twilight wished that she could tell her that this was all a dream. That her hunch of something like this actually occurring was incorrect like it should have been. Instead, she tried to keep her voice steady as she thought back to what had happened in the past week. "Fluttershy… remember when I told you I was having weird dreams?" Fluttershy slowly nodded. Twilight sighed. "Well, here goes nothing…"

Twilight told her everything – from the pure white winged mare to the evil purple pony with the armor all the way to Spike. She mentioned the elements only in passing, since she was still very unsure of what they were exactly.

When she had finished, Fluttershy was silent for several moments as she tried to absorb the information. "…I've had dreams about ponies too." She finally managed to say.

Twilight looked at her with a surprised expression. "You have?"

"Oh, yes." Fluttershy said, closing her eyes as she thought back. "But not like yours. There was never any talking. But as a child, I dreamed a lot of a world where these colourful little winged horses roamed on top of the clouds… It was scary to be up so high, but I felt so… free. It was so different from what I lived through when I was awake… I looked forward to those dreams so much…" She sighed, and opened her eyes sadly. "But they didn't come as often once I got away from those people I told you about last night, Twilight. Almost never."

Twilight was reminded of the dreams she had as a child where she had a unicorn family. "Could it be just a coincidence?" Twilight asked out loud.

"No." Spike said, causing both girls to look at him. "I-I mean… well, I'm not suppost to tell you much, but Fluttershy's definitely describing Cloudsdale."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Cloudsdale…?"

"It's a city in the sky in Equestria."

"Equestria?"

"That's the name of our world."

"Okay…" Twilight said, deciding to give up probing for information for the time being. Her brain was already overwhelmed enough.

Spike twiddled his thumbs. "Soooo, we should probably get on that letter to the princess, right?"

Twilight remembered with a jolt. "Oh, right…" She scanned her desk briefly, then grabbed a pencil and a piece of looseleaf. Spike looked confused as Twilight handed him the items.

"You're going to write to the princess with cheap paper and a pencil?" Spike asked, staring at her skeptically. "Don't you at least have a quill?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm fresh out." Spike crossed his arms. "Look," Twilight continued. "I'm sure she won't mind. After all, she just wants a quick note to know that you're okay."

"I guess…" Spike replied, but continued to look at her expectantly.

"…What?" Twilight asked, finding his gaze uncomfortable.

"Aren't you going to tell me what to write?"

Twilight looked at the baby dragon, confused. "You can't figure that out yourself?"

"Well…" Spike said slowly. "It's suppost to be from you, after all."

Twilight sighed. "Okay, okay, fine, write this:" Spike readied his pencil. "Dear Princess Celestia… Spike's here, and he seems fine... um, hope to hear from you soon?"

Spike chuckled as he scribbled it out. "That's it?"

"What else am I suppost to say?" Twilight asked, beginning to get annoyed.

"Well, at least end it with something!"

Twilight thought for a few moments. "End it with: 'your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'. I think she'll like that." Twilight said, and gave a small smile in spite of herself.

Spike finished off the letter, and then scrambled on top of Twilight's chair in order to reach the open window. "Here it goes…" Spike said, then took a deep breath and blew green fire over the note, which disappeared with the flames.

"Oh my…" Fluttershy whimpered. She still seemed a bit uncertain over the situation, though she was taking it better than Twilight would've expected her to.

"Yeah, I know." Twilight commented as Spike jumped down triumphantly from the window. "Makes you question how reliable the fire alarms here are."

Fluttershy smiled in appreciation, but her eyes were drooping. "I think I'm going to get ready for bed." She stated, and then rose, collected her toothbrush and yellow nightgown, and exited the room.

This left Twilight and Spike alone again. Spike yawned widely. "I'm tired too." He said. "Big day."

Twilight nodded, feeling the same way. She stood, and fished in her closet for a few moments until she brought out a few clean towels. She placed them on the floor between the two beds, then took one of her own pillows and placed it beside the towels.

Spike looked at the arrangement skeptically. "What are you doing?"

Twilight sighed. "Look, we don't have a lot in this tiny room. I'll see if any of the others have spare bedsheets or something, but for now." She gestured to the sheets on the floor. "Here's your bed."

Spike looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. "Thanks Twilight." He said, and gave a small smile of gratitude before trying to make himself comfortable on the ground.

…

When Twilight awoke the next morning, it took her a few moments to remember the events from the previous night. Once she did however, she quickly sat up and looked towards the ground, where Spike was sleeping peacefully. She stared at him, slowly realizing that this meant she hadn't been dreaming. Twilight glanced over at Fluttershy's bed. The other girl was lying down, but awake and watching Spike like Twilight had been doing.

"Fluttershy," Twilight whispered, causing Fluttershy's blue-green eyes to shift towards Twilight. "What are we going to do?"

"About Spike?"

"Yeah!" Twilight hissed. "I mean, we aren't suppost to have anything more than a fishbowl in our rooms." Hiding a dragon didn't seem like an easy task. "We'll get expelled!" She said, a hint of panic in her voice.

Fluttershy laughed softly. "I'm sure he'll be really quiet. Nobody will ever know."

Twilight sighed. "Yeah, but he needs to eat! You know what dragons eat, right?" Fluttershy looked something between amused and uncertain, so Twilight continued. "Okay, me neither, but in books they eat people… like us! And besides that, he's bound to set the place on fire!" The hint of panic in her voice had grown.

Fluttershy shook her head, smiling. "Twilight, everything will be alright. Just take a deep breath." Twilight complied. "Good. I'm sure the princess would never send you anything dangerous. And besides, he seems nice. He wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

Twilight opened her mouth, then thought about what Fluttershy had said. She paused for a moment before continuing. "You… you believe what I said about Princess Celestia last night?"

Fluttershy giggled. "How could I not believe you?" She asked, glancing at Spike. "Twilight, just calm down a bit, I promise everything will be okay." She reassured gently.

Twilight knew that Fluttershy couldn't possibly know that… but on the other hand, if Fluttershy of all people was telling her to calm down, then she had to be at least a little paranoid. Twilight nodded slowly. "You're right… you're right, I'm getting worked up."

"Well, just a little bit." Fluttershy said kindly.

Spike rolled over in his sleep as Twilight watched him. On one hand, she was hoping he would wake up so she could ask more questions, but she was still a tad uncertain… though it wasn't like she had much of a say in any of this. Twilight wished that she understood why this was all happening, but it was all so vague. The elements. Canterlot. Equestria? She was determined to find out more.

…

I don't have a ton to say… other than Fluttershy never seems scared of animals, especially after she gets to know them. Makes sense to me that she'd be calmer than Twilight after the initial WTF factor was over. Also, I apologize for the small typo last chapter (*nothin' not othin'). Mah spellcheck don't much like th'way poor ol' Applejack talks… so, uh, I'm suppost to proofread those parts myself, but I'm not perfect. lol

Still working on the job thing… I had a three hour long group interview today. Whoopie. Yeah I'm wiped. I have another interview on Saturday for an amusement park about fifteen minutes away from my house, which is sort of cool. I have a friend who's a manager there, so hopefully that'll help, right?

Anyways, reviews are always appreciated. Constructive criticism and your opinions are always loved!


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks to Alex Barkhorn, y1fellas, iPinkNinja, Jack-Everfree, juter4397, and Sandstorm3D for their reviews!

This chapter is very long, so I'll just get on with it. And there's drug, alcohol, and sex references… but I warned you about those on the first chapter, so we should be a-okay!

…

Twilight and Fluttershy went to breakfast without the others, since it was still quite early in the morning, and nobody else was awake yet. When they returned, Spike was still asleep. In fact, he didn't awaken until just past noon, when a letter from Princess Celestia forced its way out of his mouth.

Twilight grimaced as the scroll rolled away from the spluttering half-awake dragon. "That's sort of gross…" Twilight commented, but opened the scroll anyways.

_Dear Twilight,_

_I am very glad that Spike has made it safely to your world. Now that you have made it through your first night together, it's time for us to talk about more serious matters. It would be rather inefficient for me to explain every detail myself, so instead, I will send along some information on where you can find out more._

Spike suddenly belched loudly, causing Twilight to look up in time to see yet another scroll appear in a blanket of green flames. This time, Spike himself managed to catch it. He squinted at it briefly, then handed it to Twilight. "It's a map." He said, then yawned. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Twilight looked over the map with interest. It was a map of Xanterlot's library. One particular bookcase at the edge of the library was circled, and a scribbled note beside it read "4 up, 7 across" with arrows pointing up and right. Twilight turned her attention back to the first scroll:

_Twilight, please look through the books in the area circled. I will also be helping you adjust to our world – Equestria, as I can guarantee Spike has already told you – in other, more direct and possibly alarming ways. I do not mean to cause any discomfort, and for that, I apologize, but rest assured that it is entirely necessary. Let this serve as fair warning._

_Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions, and keep me updated on what you learn._

_-Princess Celestia_

_P.S. – Please do not allow Spike to sleep all day. Dragons do not require any more sleep than humans, regardless of what Spike may try to tell you otherwise._

Twilight looked away from the letter, deciding she would be able to go to the library tomorrow if she finished the rest of her work today. She then looked down at Spike, who was curled back up into his towel-bed. "Spike." Twilight said sternly, causing the little dragon to open one green eye in irritation. "It's almost lunch time; wake up."

Spike huffed and rolled over. "I need more sleep than you do. I'm a dragon, after all."

Twilight chuckled. "The princess made sure to let me know that you don't. Come on, Spike."

Spike opened his eyes in defeat and stood up, stretching his clawed arms and yawning widely. "Alright, alright! It's not like I'd be able to sleep anyhow… I'm starving."

"Y-you are?" Twilight asked, her voice wavering slightly. She glanced over to where Fluttershy was lounging on her bed to do a reading for her biology class. Fluttershy looked up from her textbook to laugh quietly at Twilight's reaction. Twilight looked away and cleared her throat. "So, uh, what exactly do dragons eat?"

Spike crossed his arms. "Well, gemstones mostly. Have you got any turquoise? Jasper? Rubies?" He asked, his tone becoming more hopeful with every jewel he listed.

Twilight stared at him. "You eat… gemstones? Oh for the love of God…" She groaned.

Spike sighed. "I'll take that as a no. The princess warned me about the lack of valuable gems in this world." He said unhappily. "You don't even have quartz? Pyrite? I'm really not in a position to be picky…"

Twilight shook her head. Though she was relieved he didn't seem interested in eating humans, this wasn't an easy problem either. "Do you eat anything else?" She asked desperately. "I'm pretty sure all we have in our room is some soda… But I can try to sneak you something from the dining hall."

"Soda... like, sodalite?" Spike asked hopefully, to which Twilight responded with a glare. Spike frowned. "Alright, so, no gemstones. Got it." He shrugged. "I like hay just fine, then."

"Hay?" Twilight questioned. "Like, what horses eat?"

Spike laughed. "Horses? You mean ponies. And yes, that's the kind of hay I mean. But I'm not super picky… So, can we go to lunch soon?" He asked, walking towards the door. Fortunately, he was miles too short to reach the doorknob, so he resorted to waiting for somebody else to help him.

Fluttershy put down her textbook, and shared a look with Twilight. "Spike," Twilight said carefully. "I think it's best if you just stayed in here. Fluttershy and I will bring food back for you."

"Huh? How come?" He asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Spike, you saw how I reacted when I first saw you, and I had warning that you were coming!" Twilight explained.

"There aren't any dragons in this world, Spike…" Fluttershy added softly.

Twilight expected the little purple dragon to argue, so she was surprised when he nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right." He said, and walked away from the door. "I'll just freak people out…"

Twilight smiled sadly, and picked up a small duffel bag to collect food in. "Thanks, Spike. We'll be right back." Before leaving, Twilight look a quick look at her eye in the mirror. The bruise wasn't a whole lot better than the day before, but it was definitely healing. As she peered into her own eyes, she noticed something was a bit off about them. Of course, since she had hazel eyes, they tended to look vastly different depending on things like lighting or makeup, but today they looked a bit blue. Twilight squinted at her reflection. She couldn't remember having blue in her eyes before… it almost made them look purpleish…

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight turned away from the mirror, deciding not to think anything of it. Spike waved as Twilight and Fluttershy exited and locked the door behind them. Twilight went and pounded on the room next door, but there was no answer. "Rainbow Dash?" Twilight called, but she couldn't hear any movement.

"Maybe she's already gone to lunch." Fluttershy suggested.

Twilight wasn't sure why Rainbow would have left without them, but seeing as there was no answer, they gave up and headed down the hall. After meeting up with Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, the girls headed off to the dining hall.

As they settled into a round table with their meals, Applejack narrowed her eyes at something. "Well, lookie there." She said, her tone very unimpressed. "Seems Dash found herself a new table."

Twilight and the others looked over to where Applejack was glaring: the table at the end of the far right side of the room. Rainbow Dash was sitting with Will, Garrett, and several other boys whom Twilight still didn't know. Rainbow didn't notice her five friends watching her, and laughed at something one of the boys had said.

"I can't believe she'd rather sit with those ruffians than us…" Rarity said, looking genuinely offended.

"Yeh, me neither." Applejack agreed. "Ah wonder what made her do that…"

Twilight remembered the events of the previous night, and looked at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, you were with Rainbow Dash when the rest of us went to bed, right?"

"Umm, kind of." Pinkie Pie replied, putting a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "I mean, I was, but they were drinking and everything, and they kind of just ignored me." Pinkie hung her head for a few moments, then perked back up again. "So I went and hung out with some other people in the lounge who I'd never met. Turns out they live a floor above me and they're super nice!" She finished brightly.

"So, Rainbow just stayed in the lounge all night?" Twilight asked. Pinkie thought for a second, then looked surprised as she figured out the answer.

"No. She left after a little while with the boys. I'm not sure where they went… Didn't you two hear her come home at some point?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other. "No, I haven't heard anything from her room all day." Twilight finally answered. The five girls were quiet as they drew conclusions.

"Well, she had to have slept somewhere." Rarity said, raising an eyebrow.

Applejack shook her head. "Dash is smarter than that… Ah think."

"We're cornering her after this, right?" Rarity asked. The other four gave a series of nods and "of courses".

…

"Uh… what's your deal?" Rainbow Dash folded her arms as her five female friends walled her off from the confused group of boys. "Listen," Rainbow called to the boys. "I'll have to catch up with you later."

"See you tonight, Rainbow." Garrett called, then headed out with the rest of them.

Rainbow eyed her friends, who were staring at her suspiciously. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Rainbow asked, though her uncertain expression held a bit of guilt. "Do you have a problem with me sitting with other people? I have friends besides you, you know!" She said, clearly a bit ticked off.

"We were really worried…" Fluttershy said quietly, looking at Rainbow with an anxious expression. "We haven't heard anything from your room all night or all day… and you didn't answer the door." Had it been anyone else claiming they were worried about Rainbow, Twilight was certain that the girl with the rainbow-tipped hair would have been rather displeased. Instead, Rainbow hesitated at the shy girl's genuine concern.

"Okay, I know how this looks to you." Rainbow said, holding her hands up in defense. "But I swear to God, we all just had a lot to drink and passed out in Will and Garrett's room. They have a double the floor below us."

"And that's all that happened?" Rarity asked, as if she didn't quite believe the story.

"Yeah! Well, I guess, I don't remember a whole lot of last night…" Rainbow said, causing her five friends to groan. Dash waved them off. "Nah, I know nothing happened. I don't know when I became such a lightweight, though. I barely had anything." She chuckled, clearly not concerned. "We woke up about an hour ago, and then we decided to get lunch… and here I am."

"Okay…" Twilight said, deciding to let the issue rest. "We're just looking out for you, Rainbow."

"Heh, well, thanks for the concern and all, but I don't need to be babysat." Rainbow Dash insisted, then started to lead the group out of the dining hall.

Twilight hesitated, pulling off the dufflebag she had brought with her. "I'll see you guys later." She insisted. "I have to… get some food supplies… for the room."

Four faces gave her odd looks, but Fluttershy somehow managed to convince them to leave without any comments on Twilight's bad lying skills.

…

"What's this?" Spike asked as he pulled a chicken leg out of the dufflebag.

"You've never seen a chicken leg before?" Twilight asked, looking up from her physics homework.

Spike dropped the chicken leg in alarm. "You guys eat animals?" He said, alarmed.

"And dragons don't?" Twilight said, skeptical.

"Well," Spike said, thinking. "I guess some dragons do… but I was raised by ponies, so I've never touched anything like that." He explained, and searched through the bag until he found an apple, which he ate much more readily.

Twilight had also come up with a way to sneak Spike to the bathroom using the dufflebag. She simply brought him over in the bag, and left him in there and guarded the door until he was finished. She figured it was a heck of a lot better than putting a pile of newspapers in the corner or something.

Twilight had finished all of her homework and done enough review to satisfy herself for the weekend about an hour after the group had gone to supper. Rainbow Dash had accompanied them that time, much to their relief, but she was back with the boys for the evening. Judging by the sounds coming from the hallway, she was already drunk.

Eventually, the group of them moved on, leaving the hallway quiet once again. Twilight jumped a bit when a knock came from her door, and quickly motioned for Spike to hide. Once the dragon was hidden behind Twilight's bed, she opened the door.

"Oh, hi Rarity." Twilight smiled.

"Hi Twilight, Fluttershy." Rarity greeted. Fluttershy glanced up from her laptop and smiled. "I was wondering if you two wanted to come over for a little bit? It is a Saturday, after all. Applejack's already there. Pinkie would be ecstatic if you came!"

"Oh, sure!" Twilight said, nodding.

"That would be lovely." Fluttershy agreed, closing her laptop and going to join the two others.

Before they left, Twilight glanced backwards to where Spike was hiding, though his two green eyes were poking out somewhat obviously. Twilight shook her head in amusement, then she closed and locked the door.

As the three went down the hallway, they could hear faint noises coming from outside. Though Twilight couldn't make anything out, she was certain that one of them belonged to Rainbow Dash. As she entered the room, with Rarity following close behind, Pinkie Pie and Applejack beamed.

"I'm so happy you could make it, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said joyfully. The voices outside were carrying from the window, though Twilight still couldn't make out what they were saying. The group glanced at each other, a bit unnerved.

"So, what happened tah Fluttershy?" Applejack asked. Twilight looked backwards, surprised that Fluttershy wasn't behind her.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, going out of the door and looking around. She was nowhere to be found.

"Twilight!" Rarity called from her room, her voice panicky. "Come in here, quickly! We think Rainbow might be in trouble!" Twilight rushed back into the room to see her friends hovering around the window.

…

Fluttershy flew down the stairs, her heart hammering in her chest.

"Stop it! Get away from me!" Rainbow's voice, though faint, was clear as a bell to Fluttershy. The others hadn't heard it. She was surprised that she herself had, but she knew why. It was in a rougher tone, but they were still the same words that Fluttershy heard coming out of herself in her nightmares; they were still laced with fear.

Fluttershy breathed heavily as she threw the front door to Kismet open, and ran into the crisp night air. She couldn't manage to get the attention of Twilight or Rarity right away, and she didn't know what else to do but come down herself.

As she peeked around the corner of the building, she hesitated. There must have been at least ten guys there, all at different stages of drunkenness, and all smoking, to boot. From the smell, Fluttershy instantly determined that they weren't all smoking cigarettes. In the middle of it all was a very confused looking Rainbow Dash, who was swaying from the effects of alcohol.

"C'mon, Dash! It's just weed." Garrett insisted, offering his joint to her. She pushed his hand away furiously, causing the others to laugh at her. Fluttershy paused, frightened by all of the commotion, and started to question why she had rushed down. She wouldn't be of any help; she was a coward, and she was well aware of it.

"I don't… I don't do that…" Rainbow slurred, eliciting more chuckles from the group.

"Rainbow, everyone knows alcohol's worse for you than weed anyways. What's the big deal?" Will encouraged. Garrett again offered the joint to her, and she again refused it. The boys looked like they were starting to move from amused to annoyed, and Fluttershy tensed.

"B-because…" Rainbow muttered. "Bad experience in a foster home… I don't want anything to do with it." She backed away, only to be blocked by one of the guys.

"C'mon." He said, a nice mix between high and drunk. "I'm not lettin' you go anywhere."

Dash spun in circles, finding all of her paths blocked by somebody. She glared at them, then suddenly swung at a boy's head. Especially considering the height difference, it was easy for him to grab the intoxicated girl's wrist. Rainbow yelped in pain. "Let go… get away from me!" She yelled fearfully. "What did I ever do to you?"

Fluttershy breathed, a fire igniting within her. She ran out from behind the building, and pushed two drunken idiots aside to get to Rainbow. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Fluttershy screeched, glaring daggers at the man who was holding her wrist. The man dropped Rainbow's arm in surprise, and actually took a step backwards from the force of Fluttershy's stare, but the others laughed.

"Aren't you that shy one that we helped move in?" Garrett asked, sounding amused. Fluttershy whirled around, and Garrett's grin fell at her malicious expression.

"AND YOU!" She continued. "RAINBOW DASH TRUSTED YOU! HOW DARE YOU TREAT HER LIKE THIS!" Garrett backed up, his eyes wide. "HOW DARE ANY OF YOU TREAT ANY GIRL LIKE THIS! I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING! YOU SLIPPED HER LOADS MORE ALCOHOL, JUST LIKE YOU TRIED TO DO TO MY OTHER FRIENDS! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!"

…

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie burst through the doors of Kismet, and all four of them stopped as they heard a familiar voice that was yelling in a not-so-familiar tone.

"Is that - ?" Applejack started, but Twilight ushered them onwards.

"No time, come on!" They rounded the corner of the building, but froze as they saw Fluttershy. Twilight wasn't sure she'd ever seen anybody ever look that angry. The boys that were circled around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were starting to back away and glance at each other fearfully.

"AND DON'T YOU THINK I'M GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Fluttershy continued furiously. "CAMPUS SECURITY WILL HEAR ABOUT IT – AND YOUR MOTHERS AS WELL, IF I HAVE ANY SAY IN IT. YOU WON'T EVER LAY A FINGER ON HER AGAIN, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT, I REPEAT, YOU DO NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS! …You got that?" She finished, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow as if daring them to argue.

The boys backed away very quickly. "Yes ma'am!" Will replied on behalf of the group. Then they scattered, not daring to look backwards as they stumbled away as fast as they could.

Twilight and the other girls gaped. "Fluttershy…?" Twilight asked, both impressed and shocked by her behaviour.

"Oh, hi Twilight. Hi girls." Fluttershy smiled sweetly, causing the four of them to look between each other incredulously.

"Fluttershy…" Rainbow Dash said, her eyes barely able to keep stable contact. "Thank you… thank you so much." She threw herself into Fluttershy's arms, and Fluttershy embraced her.

"It's alright… Everything's okay now…" Fluttershy reassured.

"Yeah… with-a friend like… like you…" Rainbow Dash slurred, not entirely making sense.

"Come on," Twilight urged in a low voice. "Let's get you inside."

…

I don't know how it got this long, but I'm moving some of it to next chapter. lol. I apologize for typos, I only read it through once… it's ten past four in the morning: too early for proofreading. This last scene was one of the first I imagined when thinking of ideas I wanted to incorporate into this story. I mean, generally peer-pressuring with drugs/ alcohol is more high school than university, but it still happens. Also: when one person sits at a different table at dining hall, it's pretty much the biggest deal ever. I'm not sure why it is, but it is.

Anyways, job search has still not completed. All I know is I didn't get hired at the movie theatre, since they said they would call by today if I had (granted, they were interviewing 16 people for two positions, so in reality my chances were slim to start with). Mehhhh just hire me already.

I watched the season finale over again today! The day it aired also happened to be everyone's last Saturday on campus. So, naturally, I woke up at 4am drunk on some guy's floor, surrounded by my friends. What were my first thoughts? I need to get back to my room and watch the season finale! …So clearly I didn't remember a whole lot of it, which made it awesome to rewatch. IT WAS REALLY REALLY AMAZING! I was very impressed. (I know, I know, slowpoke meme… :P)

Also: Go check out Alex Barkhorn's fic, entitled My Little Pony: Torn Between Two Worlds. If you haven't read it already… you'll like it, I promise.

So, read and review! I'll love you to death. I'm tentatively going to officially implement a Tuesday/ Friday (or late Monday/ Thursday, depending on where you live) schedule, so expect the next chapter Friday morning!


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks to y1fellas, BlackShock95, Jake-Everfree, LaserLens4, and Alex Barkhorn for reviewing the last chapter!

I don't own the rights to MLP. MLP is owned by Hasbro. I know you already know this, but it's still a good segment into the chapter. :D

…

"Applejack, you were right…" Rainbow Dash rambled as the other five girls struggled to get her up the stairs. Unfortunately, Dash's balance was rather impaired by the alcohol, so the best they could do was half-carry her. "I shoulda listened… No, I did listen, I just didn't believe… I… I trusted them…"

"Rainbow." Applejack sighed. "It's okay. Ya can stop apologizin'."

Rainbow Dash halted, shaking her head. "No… no it's not okay… Youuu guys… you're my real friends…"

The girls groaned as they tried to get Dash to continue up the stairs. It was a few minutes before they reached the third floor, and none of them were really sure what to do once they got there. Although it wasn't even 9pm yet, Twilight felt exhausted, and she was certain everybody else was too, but she didn't want to go to bed. All of them were shaken by the incident, and Twilight knew that nobody wanted to separate; especially from Rainbow, who had suddenly gone silent.

"Let's all go back to my room…" Rarity suggested, and the other girls agreed. Pinkie Pie skipped ahead and unlocked the door for them.

As the five others came in after her, Rarity led a staggering Rainbow Dash to her own bed. "Rainbow, sit here, okay? …No, I said _sit_." Rarity scolded as Rainbow flopped to one side. "Pinkie, could you get her some water, please?" Rarity requested as she repositioned Dash to a sitting position.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie chanted, and swiftly rushed out with an empty glass and back in with a glass full of water faster than Twilight thought was physically possible. The girl with the poofy pink-streaked hair happily coaxed the glass into Rainbow's hands. Rainbow stared at the glass, appearing to be lost in thought.

"I was so wrong…" Rainbow Dash muttered, her eyes focused on the water. "I thought they were cool, but they're just like… just like…" Her face hardened, and she didn't finish the sentence. "I'm sorry." Rainbow said, finally looking up at them with rather bloodshot eyes. Twilight took a second to squint at her as she noticed that something was off; it wasn't just the whites of Rainbow's eyes that were pink. Her normally brown irises almost looked a bit tinted as well…

Rainbow noticed Twilight staring at her, and looked towards her, confused. Twilight shook the thoughts out of her mind; she was probably just seeing things. She sighed as she brought herself back to the matters at hand. "Rainbow, we're the ones who should be sorry. We were suspicious, but we didn't do anything about it… this whole situation could have been averted if I'd taken it more seriously and pieced everything together." Twilight insisted, feeling guilty.

Rainbow shook her head, but grinned. "Twilight, y-you take things seriously enough as it is." Rainbow laughed.

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "And what's that suppost to mean?" The rest of her friends burst into laughter as well, though Twilight still couldn't understand what was so funny.

"Twilight," Rainbow continued after the laughter had died away. "Really though, it's my fault… I've dealt with jerks like them before." She looked down angrily. "I know better."

"Dashie," Pinkie Pie sang, waltzing over and putting an arm around Rainbow Dash, who looked confused by the gesture. "_Sometimes bad things happen, but it doesn't help at all to be sad! So you might as well just grin, because it's much more fun to be glad_!" Pinkie was quite literally singing now, and the tune was light, quick, and happy. The others glanced between each other, not sure what to think. "_Frowning's never worthwhile, so like I always saaaaay!"_ She jumped up on the bed, and belted the high note impressively on-key. "_You might as well just smile, because it's bound to improve your day_!" She finished dramatically, as if expecting a crowd to burst out into applause. She seemed even happier with the response she got instead; all of her friends, even Rainbow, slowly smiled in appreciation.

"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash laughed. "You… you're right. Nothing I can do about it now. Too drunk anyways." Rainbow swayed, and Pinkie caught her, giggling all the while.

"Right!" Pinkie agreed, beaming.

The party-lover managed to lighten the mood for the rest of the night. At one point, however, Fluttershy remembered the promise she'd made outside to the boys earlier, and called the campus security office with a determined look on her face. Though, it was soon apparent that the bought of intense courage she had displayed earlier was gone as she tried to explain the situation. ("Oh, um, i-is this the security office? Oh… right, well, if you aren't too busy, could I talk to somebody, please? I mean, if that's okay…")

After a while, Rainbow Dash fell asleep on Rarity's bed.

"Ah can take'er back for ya." Applejack offered, but Rarity shook her head.

"That's kind of you, Applejack, but it's probably best to leave her." Rarity explained in a hushed tone, as not to disturb Rainbow Dash. "The poor thing is stressed and intoxicated as it is… the least I can do is keep an eye on her."

"But… where will you sleep?" Twilight asked.

Rarity smirked and walked to her closet. "I'm not one to come unprepared, Twilight!" She explained, and pulled out an inflatable mattress and a new set of sheets. At the push of a button, the mattress instantly inflated. "I keep this thing lying around just in case!" She pulled out the sheets, and carefully started putting them on top. "And of course, I keep plenty of extra sheets lying around. I'll survive for one night, don't you worry."

Thoughts of Spike's towel-bed popped into Twilight's mind as she heard Rarity mention her extra bedsheets. "Rarity, do you think I could borrow some of your extra sheets?"

"Of course, dear! You don't need them right away, do you? I'll swing by your room when I have time tomorrow." Fortunately for Twilight, Rarity didn't ask why she needed extra bedsheets.

"That would be great." Twilight smiled in appreciation, and her, Fluttershy, and Applejack rose to leave. "Goodnight you guys!"

"Night!" Pinkie said, smiling from where she sat perched on the edge of her bed.

…

It was late into the next day when Twilight found herself in front of the Xanterlot Library, clutching the map she had been sent tightly. She took a deep breath, and entered, a bit nervous of what she might find.

The circled bookshelf was fairly easy to find. Twilight crouched down, skimming the map. "Four up… seven to the right…" Twilight traced the directions with her finger, and they landed on a very thin, very old looking book. It was brown, with a picture of a gold unicorn head on the front. The bindings were tattered with age.

Twilight carefully removed the book, and settled down at a deserted table. Upon opening it, she was instantly skeptical; it appeared to be a children's story. The first page read '_Once upon a time… in the magical world of Equestria.' _in large, fancy, gold letters. Twilight recognized that name; it was the land Spike claimed to be from.

She turned the page, and was presented with a beautiful illustration that took up two entire pages. A bright blue sky, filled with puffy white clouds and rainbows. The ground was green, and spotted with small towns, rivers, forests, and farmland. The central focus of the shot was the sun rising over a gorgeous white castle built into the side of a proud-standing mountain. Twilight's eyes widened as she examined the scene. Was this Equestria?

Twilight turned the page again, more eager this time. The picture on the right page depicted two winged unicorns standing next to each other on a cloud. Twilight instantly recognized one as Princess Celestia, and the other as that evil mare she had seen in her dream during her first night at Xanterlot. The text on the left page read: _'There were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land.'_

Twilight read through the rest of the pages. She learned about how the younger sister, later known as Nightmare Moon, became resentful towards the citizens of Equestria for shunning her beautiful nights, and she vowed to create a night that would last forever as redemption. Twilight was momentarily entranced by a scene that depicted several pony citizens playing in the day, and sleeping peacefully during the night. Some of them had horns, some had wings, and some had neither. All of them were coloured brightly and uniquely. She was again reminded of the dreams she had as a child. She turned the page.

'_Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony.' _Twilight's heart jumped at the mention of these elusive items, and she turned the page eagerly. _ 'Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.'_

It appeared to be the end of the book, so Twilight read the last two lines over and over. It didn't make any sense; it was a happy ending. So why was there so much urgency coming from Celestia? So much pressure to learn about this? Twilight knew that something wasn't right… but once again, she didn't know what it was. At this point, Twilight was grateful for any sort of knowledge, so she checked the book out and headed back to Kismet.

…

It was dark outside by the time Twilight was settled into her room again. Twilight allowed a curious Fluttershy to borrow the ancient book, and she was just as entranced by the illustrations as Twilight was.

Spike jumped next to her, and pointed out different things in first illustration in the book. "That right there is Fillydelphia, and that's Hoofington… then over here, we have Trottingham and Las Pegasus, and this is Manehatten… Uh, I think that little one is called Ponyville or something. Obviously, the one in the sky is Cloudsdale, and the white castle." He pointed to himself proudly. "That's Canterlot. My hometown, and the Capital of Equestia; home to the royal palace of Princess Celestia herself."

"Wow…" Fluttershy said, amazed. "It's all so beautiful."

"Yeah." Spike said proudly. "I know. I miss it." He shot a glare at Twilight. "I miss being able to go outside at all."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Spike. You know why you can't leave our room."

Spike ignored her, and went back to reading with Fluttershy. It wasn't long before all three of them began to get drowsy. Spike always seemed to be up for a nap, but Twilight was starting to worry about herself. It was only 8pm, after all, so why did she feel exhausted? She made a mental note to get more sleep, though she wasn't sure when she had been recently deprived of it.

Almost as soon as they were all settled into their beds/ pile of towels, there was a knock at the door. Twilight sighed and dragged herself out of bed, yawning. She flicked on the light and opened the door. Rarity stood with a pile of bedsheets, and Twilight remembered her earlier request with a jolt. Twilight made a quick glance backwards to be sure that Spike was out of sight, then turned back to Rarity.

"Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry!" Rarity exclaimed, instantly realizing she had interrupted their sleep. "I _just_ remembered about the sheets…"

Twilight smiled. "It's fine, thanks for much for bringing them over." She said, taking them from Rarity's arms.

"I'm all for getting one's beauty sleep, but it's rather early…" Rarity commented, clearly concerned.

Twilight yawned. "Yeah, I know. I guess I'm still trying to adjust to living here or something… I've been kind of tired recently."

"Funny…" Rarity said, touching a finger to her chin in thought. "Pinkie said the same thing, and you know how active she is… anyways, I'm sure we'll all adjust in the coming week. I'll let you get your rest."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, Rarity."

As the other girl departed, Twilight closed the door and turned to the pile of towels in the middle of their floor. "Spike! Rarity just dropped off some bedsheets for you… Spike?" There was no response. Twilight decided that the little dragon had probably nodded off, and figured it was best not to disturb him. She climbed back into her own bed as quietly as she could, and her eyes soon drooped shut.

…

Okay, whatever, I've hit 2000 words, I'm sleepy, let's just stop there. I'm gonna be mad at myself later when I have to rearrange the next chapter… oh well. I don't know how I manage to make these so long, haha. It's not a bad thing, I guess.

I know Rarity seems to be in the focus a lot more than the others… I'm trying to work on that. I just find she's a really easy character to write with in these situations; I know so many people that are like her that she just fits right in to whatever university-related plot I think of. Applejack needs more attention from me. :P Pinkie too. (next chapter. Probably.)

So, until Tuesday! :D Read and review?


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks to ganadoleader, Jake-Everfree, LaserLens4, Alex Barkhorn, Sandstorm3D, rederci939, and y1fellas for reviewing the last chapter! I'd just like to say that I'm really impressed and grateful for having so many reviews that are packed full of great compliments, criticisms, and ideas. It's really helpful to be able to take advice and apply it. So, thank you everybody who has reviewed thus far!

I don't own MLP… it's owned by Hasbro.

…

Rarity walked back from Twilight's room, yawning a bit as she realized that she was also more than a little bit tired. Being a Sunday night, the hallway was nearly silent; nevertheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She glanced backwards, but nobody else was there.

"Oh Rarity, there you go worrying yourself again…" Rarity whispered to herself, and she opened the slightly creaky door to her dorm room.

Rarity found her own room to be unnervingly quiet as well. She slowly shut the door, and looked over at Pinkie Pie. The normally energetic girl was nodding off at her desk while trying to read over her notes for their psychology class. There wasn't any of her usual music that she liked to study to playing, and she didn't even notice Rarity come in.

"Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked, surprised and concerned.

"W-wha?" Pinkie said, shaking her head a bit to clear it. Her vision landed on her roommate. "Oh, Rarity, it's just you… not that I thought it would be anybody else, since you're the only other one who lives here…" Pinkie Pie yawned widely, and stood up. She stretched lightly, and seemed to wince a bit, which did nothing to ease Rarity's concern.

"Pinkie, are you alright?" She asked, taking a few uncertain steps forward.

Pinkie smiled. "I'm fine, just super tired from all of my super studying! By the way, do you have any advil?" She asked nonchalantly as she took a sitting position on her bed.

Rarity opened one of her neatly organized desk drawers, and pulled out a bottle of the requested pain-killer. "Why? Do you have a "super headache" as well?" She asked as she tossed the container over.

Pinkie caught it gratefully. "More like a super-everything-ache." Pinkie groaned, and took the prescribed amount of pills labeled on the bottle before tossing it back. She flopped onto her side so that she was still facing Rarity. "Maybe I'm coming down with something."

Rarity nodded slowly, then placed the advil back in its spot, and pulled a thermometer out from the same drawer. "You know, that does sound sort of like the flu… which I swear Pinkie, you had better not have." Rarity said, and stuck the thermometer into Pinkie's mouth.

After a few moments, Pinkie removed the object from her mouth and squinted at it. "Ninety-seven-point-four!" Pinkie exclaimed, looking shocked. "Gosh, that's really hot! I mean, my hometown in summer doesn't get that warm, what if I really do have - "

"That's normal, Pinkie." Rarity said, looking relieved. "Well, no matter then; I'm sure you'll feel fine after a good night's rest."

"Y-y-yeaaaah," Pinkie agreed while simultaneously yawning. Her eyes slowly closed, and her breathing became slower as she drifted off to sleep.

Rarity started organizing herself for bed as well. Suddenly, there was a loud belching sound, and a green light flashed briefly around the room.

Rarity gave a small cry in alarm and quickly tried to pinpoint the cause of the noise, but it wasn't immediately apparent. Pinkie didn't stir.

Rarity stood and looked anxiously around her room, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Rarity noticed that Pinkie's closet door was open, and she shut it with a sigh. There was also a slip of paper on the ground near the closet, which she picked up. Pinkie Pie really did try to keep her half of the room neat, but Rarity was a hard person to please.

She decided to pass the noise off as coming from outside, and glanced down at the piece of paper to determine whether or not it was trash. There were a few long paragraphs typed on one side. The first line read: '_The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide – Chapter 1: An Overview_'.

Rarity read through it for a couple seconds, but gave up when she didn't understand what the paper was talking about. She flipped it over, and found a much shorter note scribbled hastily on the back: '_Twilight: I think you will find this helpful.'_

Upon realizing that the note was for Twilight, Rarity put it on Pinkie's desk. Seeing as it wasn't from her, it must had been from Pinkie; perhaps she had forgotten to drop it off today.

Rarity sunk gently into her perfectly neat covers, and was soon fast asleep.

…

"Spike! Spike where are you?" Twilight called anxiously the next morning. She had awoken to find that the pile of towels was completely dragon-less, and Spike didn't appear to be anywhere else in the room.

Fluttershy was also rushing around the room looking for the baby dragon, but she wasn't finding anything. "Could he have gotten out?" She asked, worried.

"I don't know, but if he did, he's gonna be in so much trouble." Twilight responded, feeling frustrated. They had to leave soon, which would effectively lock Spike out even if he did come back.

Reluctantly, the two girls gave up the search and left. As they closed the door to their room, Rainbow Dash opened the door to hers. She emerged wearing sunglasses and a rather disgruntled expression.

"Uh, Rainbow?" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. "What's with the sunglasses? Even if we were outside, you know it's raining, right?"

Rainbow Dash groaned. "Something's wrong with my eyes! They're, well, they're _red_!" She explained, sounding worried.

Twilight frowned. "Let me see." She requested. Twilight was expecting a case of pink eye, so she was left speechless when Rainbow took her sunglasses off. Dash's brown irises had turned a frightening blood-red.

"I know, it's so weird. They were like that when I woke up." She explained.

"Rainbow, that's not normal." Twilight finally said, unable to take her own eyes off of the other girl's. "Broken blood vessels, maybe? What do you think, Fluttershy?" She asked, knowing that the other girl aspired to be a veterinarian. She figured an animal doctor and a human doctor couldn't be too different.

"I don't know…" Fluttershy murmured, also staring into Dash's eyes. "Maybe you should go to the clinic after class, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash slipped her sunglasses back on. "Yeah, I guess so." She agreed a bit reluctantly.

Twilight noticed Rarity coming down the hall towards them. Oddly, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were not with her.

"Where's Pinkie Pie and Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked, voicing Twilight's own thoughts.

"Oh," Rarity said, looking a bit flustered. "Pinkie's really sick. I don't know what's wrong, but I've never seen her so lifeless. She's exhausted and sore." Rarity explained, worry lacing her words. "It's really quite concerning… the poor dear could barely even speak, but she insisted I go to class and take notes for her." She sighed. "And I think Applejack might have the same thing. When I knocked she didn't answer the door, she just told me she wasn't feeling well and to go ahead without her. Perhaps I should take them both to the clinic after calculus…"

"Heh, they can just join me." Rainbow Dash offered. "I'm going there anyways." Before Rarity could ask, Rainbow briefly removed her sunglasses.

"O-oh my God…" Rarity said as her eyes widened in shock. "Rainbow, that's really creepy. Please put those glasses back on."

Rainbow Dash shot her a red-eyed glare before popping the glasses back over her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know…" She mumbled.

…

As Twilight browsed the buffet for breakfast, the normally inviting scent of bacon and sausages made her feel like vomiting. She automatically moved to the other end of the buffet, where a large bowl of fruit salad sat by itself. Twilight took a bowl, and headed to their usual round table.

When all four of them were settled into their seats, they laughed as they realized they had all taken the same fruit salad.

"Great minds think alike." Rainbow Dash commented before they dug in.

…

After a rather boring psychology class, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy turned to separate from the two calculus students.

"I'll go check on Applejack and Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said.

"I need to stop at the greenhouses for biology," Fluttershy said, "but then I'll check on them too. And I'll be sure to, um, check on…" Fluttershy trailed off, apparently uncertain of how to word the statement, but Twilight nodded appreciatively.

When the two girls entered their calculus classroom, Twilight claimed a seat on the very end of a row. Her seating choice was very purposeful, since it meant that when Kyle finally entered the classroom, he was forced to sit beside Rarity, who didn't seem to mind. Twilight found the entire situation very awkward, and she tried to make herself appear busy while Rarity distracted him with idle chitchat until class started.

As soon as class ended, Twilight was out the door. Rarity almost had to run to keep up with her.

"Twilight…" Rarity said, glancing backwards at the others students who were miles behind them. "Don't you think you might be making this whole situation a bit awkward? You can't avoid him forever."

"Well, I can try."

Rarity shook her head in exasperation, but as she focused her gaze back on Twilight, she narrowed her eyes as if trying to focus. Twilight looked uncomfortably back at her, unsure of why she was being stared at. "Twilight, I don't remember your eyes being blue… are you wearing contacts or something?"

Twilight shook her head, a bit surprised, but not overly concerned. "It must be the lighting. My eyes are hazel, not blue." She explained.

Rarity looked uncertain. "Are you certain? They're really quite a stunning deep shade of blue at the moment… deeper than my own eyes…" Twilight nodded absently, and Rarity decided to drop the topic. "Alright, well, we'd better get back to Kismet to check on the others…" The worry in her tone was not lost on Twilight, who felt the same way.

When they had arrived on the third floor, Twilight decided to accompany Rarity to check on Pinkie Pie. When Rarity unlocked the door to their room, however, they found it was deserted.

"Rainbow Dash must still be at the clinic with them…" Rarity realized. "I hope everything's alright…"

Twilight gave a hopeful smile. "I'm sure they're fine. They probably just caught some bug that's going around."

Rarity nodded, though she didn't appear convinced. "I'll let you know when they get back."

Twilight nodded gratefully, and headed back to her own room.

As she opened her creaky door, she froze as she took in the scene. Fluttershy was rushing around, looking panic-stricken. Around their room, there were about twenty plastic cups filled with soil. Fluttershy didn't even look over as Twilight entered; she appeared preoccupied scribbling down notes and prodding the cups worriedly.

Even more surprising was Pinkie Pie perched brightly on Fluttershy's bed, with Spike the dragon sitting casually next to her.

"P-Pinkie? Spike?" Twilight exclaimed, not sure what to think first. "How… how did you…? Aren't you suppost to be sick?"

Pinkie smiled. "It's okay Twilight! I was really sick, but then all of a sudden, I was perfectly fine! So you don't need to worry about me!"

"…All of a sudden y-you were perfectly… but… Spike?" Twilight said, staring at Spike in disbelief. "You've met Spike!"

"Oh, Spike?" Pinkie asked, glancing at the little purple dragon next to her. "I found him in my closet. He said he lives with you, so I brought him over! But of course, I forgot that you had calculus, so you weren't home. Luckily, Fluttershy was -"

"Wait, wait, wait." Twilight interrupted. "A talking dragon pops out of your closet, and this is okay with you?"

"She's telling the condensed version." Spike supplied helpfully. "The long version would take forever to explain, because gee does she like to talk."

Twilight suddenly shot Spike a death-glare, and he winced. "And what, pray tell, were you doing in Pinkie Pie's closet?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Spike looked nervous. "I've been so bored cooped up here… I thought maybe I could go for a small walk last night, y'know, just a little one!" He explained, clearly trying to be truthful without making Twilight any angrier. "When that beautiful girl came to visit last night," Spike's eyes glazed over, "I took the chance to sneak out… but I couldn't help but follow her… she was just so… so…" He sighed happily, then shook his head to clear it. "I wasn't paying attention, and I got stuck in her room when she closed the door. I was scared of her finding me, cause you warned me so much, Twilight. So I hid in what turned out to be Pinkie's closet for the night."

"So," Twilight said slowly, glancing between Pinkie and Spike. "You followed Rarity home, hid in Pinkie's closet… and then popped out of it the next day, effectively ruining the entire point of hiding in the first place?" Twilight asked accusingly.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. "I got bored?"

Twilight groaned and rubbed the spot between her eyes in frustration. Pinkie Pie giggled. "It's okay Twilight, when I found him, he promised that you would explain everything. Well, Fluttershy explained everything already, so your job is done!" She stated happily. "I wish you'd told me earlier! I'd always wondered why I dreamed about weird colourful ponies; I mean, that's not something most people dream about is it? Well, maybe it is, I'm not sure, but it doesn't really _seem _like something most people would dream about."

"Twilight, Pinkie told me that Rarity has dreams about ponies too." Fluttershy said quietly, though she didn't turn around as she wrote out more notes. "So, um, maybe it's okay to let her know, too? I mean, it seems like the fairest thing to do…"

"Fluttershy…" Twilight said, glancing at the soil-filled cups that had invaded their room. "What on earth are you doing?"

Fluttershy finally glanced over, looking confused. "I-I'm sorry?"

"Why are there plastic cups filled with dirt scattered around our room?"

"Fluttershy's planting bean seeds for biology class!" Pinkie said, grinning. "I tried to help, I mean, I'm not super great with plants or anything, but it was fun!" She pointed to one particular plastic cup, which she had apparently planted herself.

Fluttershy looked between the three others, exasperated. "It was suppost to be a simple assignment to test how plants grow better in different soil conditions, but none of my plants even sprouted…" She looked sadly around. "I was the only one in the class that this happened to… they're suppost to sprout within three days, but it's been a week and nothing's happened. My professor offered a few days for an extension, but our class's time in the greenhouses was over… so…" She looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Twilight. I promise they'll be gone in a few days… sprouted or not…" She sighed.

"No, it's fine," Twilight said quickly. "I was just wondering. I'm sure they'll sprout soon, Fluttershy. Maybe Applejack can help you when she's feeling better; she's taking agricultural studies, after all."

Fluttershy gave her a small, grateful smile, then returned to her notes.

"Is Rarity back?" Pinkie asked. When Twilight nodded to affirmative, Pinkie Pie jumped up. "I should let her know I'm okay! Thanks a lot for everything, you guys. I'll be back soon!" With that, she zipped out the door.

Twilight was left with even more questions. Obviously, it was no coincidence that four of them had dreamt of a world where a spectrum of ponies lived peacefully. Twilight wouldn't have been surprised if Applejack and Rainbow Dash had also had similar dreams. She made a mental note to ask them, then she went over to help Fluttershy better organize the to-be plants. As Twilight picked up the cup that Pinkie had planted, she realized in amazement that a tiny sprout had already popped up.

…

I don't think this was one of my better chapters, but thanks for reading! I know that RD's eyes aren't red in the show. You'll see. I don't have much else to say on this one.

Oh, and by the way… I got the job at that amusement park! Well, not officially… they're suppost to call me on Wednesday, but my friend is a manager there and he said my name was on the list of people they were going to call. So, yay! :D Life is better. I requested twenty hours a week, which should be just enough to keep me sane enough to survive until school starts again and the real work begins.

So, now that you've read this far; would you mind dropping me a review? That would be really awesome of you. See ya!


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks to Alex Barkhorn, angelicoreXX, ganadoleader, y1fellas, LaserLens4, Sonicsmash4, juter4397, disney-hp-freak, rederci939, Flamelord939, and iPinkNinja for reviewing the last chapter! WOW. This is a new record. Thank you so so much, it's really awesome! I'm sorry if I forgot to reply to any of you… it's sort of hard to keep track of now!

I don't own MLP.

…

It had only been about fifteen minutes after Pinkie Pie had left when Twilight heard a knock at her door. Twilight ushered Spike behind her bed before opening it.

"Twilight," Rarity said anxiously as soon as the door was opened. Pinkie Pie stood behind her, smiling as usual. "Pinkie Pie told me this… er, _interesting_ story on how you're harbouring a baby dragon in your dorm room." She said, sounding very skeptical. She continued on in a hushed tone, speaking directly to Twilight. "I'm a bit concerned to be honest… she says she's feeling better, but, well, clearly…" Rarity's eyes shifted to Pinkie, who was looking a bit confused at being left out.

"Oh… uh…" Twilight hesitated. She didn't know whether or not it was the right thing to do to tell Rarity. Pinkie clearly felt that telling her was right decision, so Twilight felt as though she didn't have much of a choice anymore.

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy said slowly. "I think we should tell her."

Rarity folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at this comment. "Tell me what, exactly?"

Twilight made up her mind. "Rarity, maybe you should sit down for a second…"

Rarity sat down on Twilight's bed, still looking skeptical. "Twilight, you don't mean to tell me that you actually have a dragon in here?" Rarity joked, and gave a small laugh at the absurdity of her statement.

Pinkie Pie giggled knowingly. Twilight exchanged a glance with Fluttershy before finally relenting. "Okay, Spike, could you come out, please?" She called.

Spike, who had clearly been listening and waiting for his chance, leapt smoothly onto the bed and smiled warmly. "Why, hello there." He said, clearly trying to make himself sound older. Twilight had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing, especially since Rarity looked absolutely terrified. "My name's Spike." He introduced himself with a small bow.

Rarity appeared frozen with fear. Her face paled. "…Y-y-y-you… d-d-dra…" With a small moan, she passed out rather dramatically on the bed.

Spike went over to her immediately, looking very worried. "Was it something I said?" He asked anxiously.

Twilight couldn't help but smile at the little dragon worrying about blowing his first impression. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of a human child. "Oh Spike, of course not." Twilight reassured as she, Pinkie, and Fluttershy went to Rarity's side. "…But now you see why I don't let you out in public."

Spike nodded slowly, and then sat on the other end of the bed guiltily as the three girls gently repeated Rarity's name to get her to stir.

After about half a minute, Rarity's eyes fluttered open. She sat up slowly, pushing her black hair out of her face. "What on earth happened…" Her gaze finally landed back on Spike, and she shrieked in terror. "Oh! Oh I remember!" She exclaimed, pressing herself as far away from a dismayed-looking Spike as she could get. "I found out that you're _HIDING A TALKING DRAGON IN YOUR DORM ROOM!_" Rarity screeched at Twilight, who flinched. "Honestly Twilight, what's the meaning of this? Explain everything to me. Right. Now."

"Okay, okay…" Twilight said slowly, trying to calm her down. Rarity waited for an explanation with an irritated look on her face, but didn't say anything else. Twilight decided to start slowly. "Rarity have you ever had dreams involving a land full of colourful little horses?"

"Ponies." Spike corrected.

"…Colourful little _ponies._" Twilight restated, raising an eyebrow at Spike.

"Why yes, yes I have." Rarity said, looking surprised. "It's been a recurring dream of mine since I was small… But what does this have to do with, er, him?" She looked uncertainly at Spike.

Twilight took a deep breath, then proceeded to tell Rarity about how her dreams had a connection to a world called Equestria. She explained how she was in contact with the princess of this world – Princess Celestia – and that Spike was sent to help them send letters (Spike puffed his chest to look important at this point in her explanation).

"And there are these things that I'm still trying to find information on…" Twilight continued, nearly finished. Rarity was looking rather overwhelmed. "They're called the elements of harmony, and they were the tools used to stop Nightmare Moon from shrouding Equestria in eternal night. I know that they're really important, but the princess hasn't given me a whole lot to go on."

"Ohhhhh," Pinkie said, her eyes slowly widening in realization. "So that's why I found the first chapter of "_The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide"_ on my desk!" She exclaimed, then handed a slip of paper over to very surprised Twilight.

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity said in amazement. "I found that last night, but I didn't know what it meant!"

"Oh yeah…" Spike said sheepishly. "I forgot about that." He laughed nervously.

Twilight sighed in exasperation, and read over the paper. "It says here that although there are six elements, only five are known: kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty… the sixth is a complete mystery."

"So… what are they, exactly?" Rarity asked curiously.

Twilight read further down the page. "It says they manifest physically as objects… which would match up with the drawing in the old book!" Twilight said, realizing it with a jolt. She pulled out the ancient book she had retrieved from the library the day before, and opened it to the page with a large drawing on an angry Princess Celestia vanquishing Nightmare Moon with what Twilight now knew were the six elements.

"Twilight, can I take a look at that?" Rarity asked. Twilight looked up to see both Rarity and Pinkie Pie looking down at the book in awe.

"Yeah, sure." Twilight said, pushing it over to them. They flipped through the pages, transfixed by what they saw. Spike hopped over, and once again started pointing out the different locations in Equestria.

Twilight turned her attention back to the slip of paper. '_Although the elements of harmony can manifest as physical objects, what they actually represent goes a lot deeper. The elements of harmony can only be utilized by'… _This was where the page ended.

"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie called to her. Twilight looked over, waiting for her to continue. "Do you think Applejack and Rainbow Dash have any connection to Equestria too? Like we do? Like, maybe they have dreams?"

"I… I don't know, Pinkie." Twilight said honestly. "We could ask them at supper." The others all nodded in agreement.

…

Unfortunately, neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash showed up for supper.

"Do you think they're still at the clinic?" Twilight asked, worried. "Have you guys heard anything from Applejack's room? Because I haven't heard anything from Rainbow's…"

Rarity and Pinkie shook their heads. "If Applejack has what I had this morning," Pinkie Pie said, "then I wouldn't be surprised if she's still asleep. I mean, I was totally out of it."

Twilight nodded. "But that doesn't explain where Rainbow is… Unless she's sick now too." Nobody could think of another explanation, so Twilight decided to move on. "Well, hopefully they'll be at breakfast tomorrow. I have astronomy tonight from seven to ten, so I won't be able to talk to them until morning."

The other girls nodded and continued eating their respective meals; all of them had taken salads, though none of them could explain why they suddenly didn't feel like eating the roast that most of the other students had eagerly taken.

…

That night, Twilight found herself in front of the same telescope she had looked through last week for her pop quiz. After their lecture, they had been given an assignment that required telescopes for part of it. The other parts were filled with things like equations and chemical formulas, but Twilight had easily zipped through all of those in less than twenty minutes. With another hour and a half left in the class, Twilight was happy to take her time looking at the stars to estimate distances and find co-ordinates. Though she usually liked to work as quickly and efficiently as possible, anything to do with stargazing was an exception.

As she watched the stars that floated billions of miles away, she began to wonder if any of the planets circling them could be Equestria. Or perhaps Equestria was in a different dimension all together? She didn't know. The whole situation was still too confusing to her. She continued to work slowly until she was finished, then she packed up and headed home for a good night's sleep.

…

_Twilight recognized Princess Celestia immediately, but something was very different about this dream. They weren't in a giant hall, but what looked like a living room in somebody's house. Twilight viewed the scene from third person above them; Princess Celestia stood in front of two unicorns who were settled together on a loveseat. The male was blue in colour, with golden eyes and a midnight blue mane. He was gently trying to comfort the female, who had a light silver coat with a purple and white streaked mane. Tears fell from her blue eyes, and she made no effort to stop them. Twilight had a feeling she'd seen the pair before, but she couldn't figure out where._

_It took Twilight a good few moments to realize that both of the ponies were looking at something. Twilight followed their gaze to an absolutely tiny unicorn who was playing with what appeared to be a child's pegboard on the ground. She had a lavender coat, purple eyes, and a matching purple mane with a single pink streak running through both her mane and tail. Twilight doubted she was old enough to understand anything the adults were saying._

"_How much time?" Twilight focused back on the blue stallion, who had turned his gaze to Princess Celestia desperately. His voice was shaky. "How much time do we have?"_

"_Only about a month." Princess Celestia said. The two unicorns looked horrified. The princess looked upset as well. "I know it's hard, but it's in her best interest. I wouldn't do this if it wasn't absolutely necessary."_

"_She's so young…" The unicorn mare said, looking tearfully at the princess. "You can't think it's in her best interest to take her away from her family! From everything she's ever known – or will ever know!" She cried desperately. Her outburst gained the attention of the little lavender pony, who dropped the pegs and watched the scene with a tiny frown. _

_The princess dipped her head sadly. "If I wait much longer, she'll be able to remember things. You must understand – my sister will find out about all of them once they start to find their place in our world. For her own safety, as well as the safety of Equestria, she must not know about our world until the time is right."_

"_O-our daughter won't remember us?" The blue stallion questioned suddenly. The silver mare started sobbing._

"_She will remember you." Princess Celestia stated, causing both of them to raise their heads questioningly. "But it will be a memory locked very deep inside of her. She isn't likely to understand what it means until the time is right."_

_A purple glow surrounded both the horn on the stallion's head and the very young unicorn, and the little filly floated over to her parents. The foal looked confused as her parents nuzzled her and sobbed softly._

"_I'll keep in touch with you, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle." Princess Celestia stated quietly, then left the family alone. _

_Twilight watched as the two unicorns sat in mutual silence with their daughter. She spotted another unicorn hesitantly walk in. He was quite young, but not nearly as young as the lavender one. He had a white coat and a mane filled with many different shades of blue. _

"_Mom? Dad?" The white colt asked, his eyes wide and scared. "Is it true what the princess said?" _

_His parents nodded. "It's only for her protection, Shining Armor." The father said, trying to be strong for his son. The mother clearly didn't trust her voice, for she remained quiet._

_The young white unicorn pawed the ground angrily. "Well, I can protect her! They don't need to send her away somewhere… I'm her big brother, after all!"_

_Both of the older unicorns gave a small smile. "That's brave of you, but it's best to do what the princess says. She knows best, after all." The blue stallion explained. "You'll see your sister again one day."_

_The white colt looked saddened, but he approached his sister with a brave smile. "You won't forget me, will you Twilight?" The lavender unicorn smiled back naively._

With a suddenly realization, Twilight jerked herself awake. That baby pony was her. Those unicorns were her family. They were right; she hadn't completely forgotten. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

She jumped out of bed and went immediately to her mirror. She peered into her own eyes, which she could tell from the faint morning light were now a striking shade of dark purple; the exact same shade that she had seen on the baby unicorn in her dream.

No, the exact same shade that she had seen on _herself_ in her dream

"Spike!" Twilight cried suddenly, causing both the baby dragon and her roommate to sleepily open their eyes.

"W-What?" Spike asked. "What happened?" He looked around the room, expecting to see a reason for Twilight's outburst.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, her sleepy eyes struggling to register the situation. "What's wrong?"

"I have questions. And only one pony can answer them." She looked at Spike. "Spike, take a letter."

"B-but it's six in the morning - "

"I said take a goddamn letter!"

…

I really did mean to make this chapter almost entirely with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but my chapters never seem to go as planned. So obviously, neither of them were even present in this chapter. I probably should have seen that coming. LOL. Oh well. At least there's lots of room next chapter.

See you Tuesday!


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks to Alex Barkhorn, angelicoreXX, LaserLens4, iPinkNinja, ganadoleader, y1fellas, Sonicsmash4, Jack-Everfree, Half-Angel-Writer, Sandstorm3D, rederci939, and leeroc101 for their reviews! Holy moly. You guys are awesome.

Sorry that the chapter is a tad late… I got lazy. It's like 4am here. lol.

…

As Spike drowsily readied a pencil, Twilight had started pacing the room anxiously. Fluttershy watched worriedly from her bed.

"Spike," Twilight said, trying to gather her thoughts. "I want you to ask Princess Celestia about my parents."

Spike froze. "W-what did you say?"

Twilight continued walking back and forth across the room. "I know they live in Equestria. I know they're unicorns. I want to know more than that. I _deserve _to know more than that."

"Twilight… um…" Fluttershy said worriedly. "Are you feeling okay?"

Twilight shook her head. "I know I don't make any sense, but I know it's true. I-I remember them." She took a deep breath, then continued. "I want to know why I was sent here. I want to know why I was separated from my family… She said I'd understand when "the time was right"… well, what does that mean?"

As Spike rushed to write out everything Twilight was saying, Fluttershy gave a small gasp. "Twilight… Twilight, your eyes!" She said, her own eyes widening in shock. "Your eyes are purple!"

"Right," Twilight said, rounding on Spike again. "I also want to know why my eyes are purple." Fluttershy stared at her, but Twilight continued on. "I… I had a dream about myself. But it wasn't just a dream… it was like a flashback, I guess. And in the dream, I saw myself as a baby pony. I had purple eyes… Am I turning back into a pony?"

Spike finally paused. "Twilight…" He said skeptically.

"Spike, I'm serious. Write that down." Twilight insisted. Spike shrugged and obeyed. Twilight finally stopped pacing, and settled into a sitting position on her bed. "Also… I-I want to know…" Twilight paused as a sudden sadness overwhelmed her, but she managed to choke out the rest of her question. "…Do my parents miss me? D-do they even remember me? Do… do they…" She broke off, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She wasn't expecting this to be such a difficult topic, but years of repressed emotions were bubbling to the surface, and it was all she could do not to completely break down.

Twilight flinched as a hand gently brushed her hair away from her face. "It's okay…" Fluttershy soothed quietly as she appeared at Twilight's side. Twilight sniffed and nodded gratefully as she tried to let her emotions settle.

To Twilight's surprise, a second much smaller figure appeared on her other side. She looked down at Spike, who gave her a sad smile and patted her arm. "I'll send it." Spike said simply, and Twilight nodded.

As Spike blew fire out of their window, Twilight felt a bit better. "Thank you…" She said. Spike turned around and saluted her. Twilight smiled, and wiped at her eyes. "I'm so sorry to have woken you two up, I really am, just… I had to. I've gone my whole life wondering about my parents, and then suddenly there were answers in front of me."

"It's okay Twilight, we understand." Fluttershy said sweetly.

"Yeah." Spike agreed, grinning. "I've never even met another dragon before. Not that I really want to… I mean, they're _dragons_." He'd finally succeeded in making Twilight giggle, and he smiled proudly at his accomplishment.

…

Twilight hadn't received a reply from Princess Celestia before they had to go to breakfast, but she hoped that there would be one when they got back. Since it was a Tuesday, she had chemistry with Fluttershy first thing, and they were supposed to meet Applejack and Rainbow Dash at breakfast. Twilight was uncertain that they would see either of them, but was pleasantly surprised when she was proven wrong.

"Hi guys!" Twilight greeted, happy to see her friends again as she settled into a chair and put a plate of pancakes on the round table in front of her. Fluttershy did the same with a bowl of cereal.

"Howdy." Applejack smiled at the pair of them. Rainbow, who was once again wearing sunglasses, gave a brief smile in greeting before focusing her attention back to her breakfast.

Twilight noticed something was different about Applejack immediately, but it took her a few seconds to realize exactly what it was. "Applejack, did… did you get highlights?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Applejack's normally dirty-blonde hair was indeed streaked with platinum blonde, but it didn't seem like something Applejack would bother doing to herself.

Applejack sighed. "Nah, Ah dunno what's goin' on. It's a lot lighter, but Ah couldn't tell ya why… it's been gettin' lighter ever since yesterday." She shrugged.

"Oh!" Twilight said, remembering. "Are you feeling better? Did you go to the clinic yesterday?"

Applejack chuckled. "Yeh, Ah I was fine after a few extra hours ah rest." She explained. "Dunno what came over me, but Ah'm mighty glad it's over. Ah've never felt so wiped in all mah life… but anyhoo, Ah did go to the clinic, but only tah accompany Dash and her crazy eyes… speakin' o'which…" She squinted at Twilight, who knew where this was going.

"Yeah, I know, they're purple." Twilight confirmed.

"That's… uh… odd." Applejack said, looking bewildered. "You an' Dash should form a lil' club."

Rainbow, who was being very uncharacteristically quiet, flipped off her sunglasses for the sole purpose of rolling her eyes at Applejack.

"Actually, they kind of look better today. I think." Twilight commented. Rainbow's eyes had lightened, and though they were nowhere near brown, they weren't as frightening. "They almost look like… what's that colour called…"

"Magenta." Fluttershy supplied helpfully as she stared into Rainbow's eyes with fascination.

"Exactly!" Twilight agreed.

Rainbow sighed and plopped the sunglasses back over her eyes. "Yeah, that's what the doc said after we'd been in the hospital for nine freaking hours." She groaned. "I'm never going to the clinic again."

"They said they'd never seen anythin' like it before." Applejack elaborated. "So they wanted tah do lotsa testin'…" Rainbow Dash gave an exasperated sigh and pretended to shoot herself. "…Yeh, it was a long day."

"Idiot doctors couldn't even figure out what was wrong with me!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Now I'm stuck with pink eyes for the rest of my life." She finished glumly.

Twilight smiled comfortingly. "Oh Rainbow, I'm sure they'll…" She trailed off, a different idea suddenly popping into her head. After all, her eyes had changed into the same purple that she had seen on the foal version of herself in her dream. What if…

"...You're sure they'll…?" Rainbow asked, trying to prompt Twilight to continue.

"Have either of you ever dreamt of multicoloured ponies?" Twilight asked, directing the abrupt topic change towards Rainbow and Applejack.

Fluttershy giggled at the suddenness of the question, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash were too confused to give Twilight anything more than blank stares. Twilight waited intently.

"To be honest, Ah have." Applejack said slowly. "Twi, why are ya askin' this?" Twilight didn't answer, but stared expectantly at Rainbow Dash.

"…Okay, okay, yeah, I have." Rainbow admitted, looking worried about Twilight. "Twilight, stop that, you're freaking us out."

Twilight's gaze softened. "Okay, okay… sorry, I know that was a bit random." Twilight's mind was racing; were all six of them connected in this somehow? She glanced quickly at the clock, and realized that she had better wrap this up if she wanted to get to chemistry on time. "Okay, I need to talk to you guys later. When are you done classes for the day?"

"This is mah last one. Ah had a class earlier today, so…" Applejack replied.

"I'm done at two, but then I have to eat lunch." Rainbow replied, peering anxiously at the clock as well.

"Okay… okay, well," Twilight said, thinking. "I have physics at three, but both of you come over before then. It's really important."

"O-okay, Twi." Applejack said, apparently still confused about Twilight's behaviour.

Twilight smiled. "I'll explain everything to you later, I promise." She said, then stood up. Fluttershy quickly followed suit. "Alright, well we should get going or we'll be late… you guys should really head off too, the gym is further away than the science labs, after all." Twilight suggested, then started to walk away.

"…Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked suddenly. Twilight quickly turned around and studied the girl with the rainbow-tipped hair, who had paled.

"Hey sugercube, we can skip if ya'd like." Applejack suggested gently. Rainbow glanced shakily behind her to where Garrett, and several other boys were starting to depart from their long table. Twilight finally understood; they had class together with them.

"I-I…" Rainbow hesitated. It was odd to see the normally overconfident girl so uncertain. "I dunno… I mean, participation is worth a third of our grade…"

"Ah'll be right beside ya." Applejack assured her. "Ya wanna give it a go?"

Rainbow Dash gave a small nod, and all four girls took off to their respective classrooms.

…

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped into the gym just seconds from being late. Their professor, who looked a lot more like a fitness instructor than a teacher, gave them a pointed look, but scribbled them down as present regardless.

Their Physically Active Living (PAL) class consisted of both a classroom portion, and a physical portion. While Thursdays were usually a lecture on various topics related to the human body and healthy living, Tuesdays they were required to do different physical drills in the gym. The students were currently warming up by running or stretching. The majority of them were male, which on any other day did nothing to intimidate the two girls.

Today, however, Rainbow Dash shrunk back as Garrett noticed her and rounded up a couple of his friends.

"Hey, Rainbow…" Garrett said. He looked less-than-happy to see her, and the other boys seemed to reflect this attitude. Applejack had never seen Rainbow look more afraid. She stood by her protectively, unsure of the boys' intentions. "Look, your friend called security on our asses." He hissed angrily. "We got fined for drug possession, which goes on our permanent record." He moved unnervingly close to Rainbow Dash, who had backed herself against the wall. "Not only that, but that bitch Marilyn revoked my position on house council. Will's too. And it's all because of you." He finished, pointing a finger at her.

Applejack expecting Rainbow to defend herself in her usual haughty manner, but she didn't. "Get away from me." Rainbow Dash said instead, her voice clear, but quiet and almost nervous sounding.

Garrett scoffed at her. He and the others edged closer. "You have a lot to say for yourself, you little - "

"Hey now, hold it right there!" Applejack barked, quick to move between Dash and the boys. "She said back off, so y'all need to back off, y'hear?" She said, poking a finger furiously at Garrett's chest. "Git away from her righ' now."

"Oh yeah, hayseed?" Garrett threw back. "What are you gonna do? Fight us?"

"Leave Applejack out of this, Garrett!" Rainbow Dash shouted, a bit of courage coming back to her.

"BOYS!" Their professor suddenly yelled, causing the entire group to jump and whirl around. "I don't want any trouble." He said, his muscular arms crossed together. "Go warm up. We're starting in a few. Girls, go get changed, and hurry it up! You two are late as it is." His aggressive tone caused the boys to scatter almost instantly. As the professor followed to watch the rest of the class, Applejack led Rainbow Dash to the girls' changing rooms.

Rainbow was quite obviously shaken. "Thanks, AJ…"

Applejack sat her down and gave her a look of concern. "Rainbow, what's goin' on? Yer actin' nothin' like yerself. Ah wanna know why."

"Applejack…" Rainbow Dash said carefully. "You were adopted, right?"

"Yeh…" Applejack said fondly. "Ah was adopted when Ah was a tiny lil' thing. Mah mother's a single mom, an' we never had much in term ah money… but we always had each other. Ah love that woman to death. Miss her like crazy." She smiled sadly.

Rainbow sighed. "Lucky you. You don't know what it's like to be an orphan."

Applejack eyed the other girl. "And Ah reckon you do, don't ya Dash?"

Rainbow glared at the ground. "It's sort of the reason those guys get to me so much… well, I don't want to bore you with my life story…"

"Sure y'do." Applejack stated truthfully. "Go on." Rainbow Dash smirked in amusement.

"Well… I was never officially adopted. I've lived in foster care my whole life… a lot of kids do fine in foster care, but not me. I guess I've always craved that individual love and attention from a parent, you know? And as nice as my foster parents were… it just wasn't the same. I couldn't get that individual attention. So when I was little, I started acting out. I became that one kid everybody talked about; "oh yeah, Rainbow got sent to the office again. Rainbow's suspended for a week. Rainbow got in a fight with some kid. Rainbow's so awesome. I wish I was as cool as Rainbow - "

"Rainbow." Applejack interrupted, chuckling. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, then continued.

"Well, you get the point; I became every adult's worst nightmare. I didn't last long under anybody's roof, 'cause one day they were bound to figure out how much of a handful I was. Nobody really bothered to see what I really was, though; a lonely little kid without a home." She sighed.

Applejack put a comforting hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "Rainbow, Ah appreciate y'all tellin' me this, but what's it got to do with Garrett and the other creeps?" Applejack asked.

"I was getting to that." Rainbow said quickly. "Well, when I reached high school, I fell into the wrong crowd pretty quickly. A bunch of rude losers who skipped class to smoke on the playground; you know what I'm talking about. Thing is, I genuinely _liked _school. And I mean the learning part. I guess it was a nice stabilizer for me, since everything else in my life went to shit. I loved competing on the sports teams too, but none of those kids really liked me because of my reputation.

But I never once touched drugs, or cigarettes, or even alcohol until a bit later… I-I knew a girl, my foster sister, who'd died of a drug overdose. I was pretty young. It put me off the stuff for life. Of course, my friends hadn't ever experienced anything like that, so they were happy to experiment.

There was one day in particular… I saw one of my closest friends lace a joint with something. I don't know what it was, but I could take a guess… He offered it to me, even though he knew I didn't do drugs. I refused, and he practically shoved the thing into my face trying to get me to take it. All of my other friends egged him on.

I dunno why it cut me so deep, but it did. Adults had let me down before, but I'd always trusted my own peers. The betrayal hurt. It hurt bad. I'm still not really over it… So when I realized that Garrett and them were all just like them, I knew I'd made the same mistake twice. I know who my friends are now… friends are there for you no matter what. Friends celebrate differences, not reject them. I was an idiot. I'm sorry."

Applejack nodded slowly. "Ah see. Ah'm sorry you had to go through all that. Dash, you're stronger than a lot of people I know. Don't let anyone tell ya differently. But Ah understand if ya want to take the day off." She said, gesturing towards the exit.

Rainbow shook her head. "Nah, it felt good to lay all of my thoughts out. I won't let them bug me anymore. Thanks for listening, Applejack."

Applejack smiled. "That's what friends are for. But ya already knew that, didn'tcha?" The two grinned at each other, and then raced to get changed so they could get back outside.

…

Hm. I'm sure I had a lot to say, but I forget now. The last part was difficult since I had to balance the fact that I needed to tell a convincing backstory with the fact that Rainbow in reality probably isn't all that great at telling stories. lol

Did you guys want me to write out more backstories? I could try to elaborate on the other four, though it isn't as integral to the plot… So really, it doesn't matter to me. Otherwise they'll just be briefly touched on (like how I did with Applejack in this chapter).

Mind dropping me a review? That would be great.


	17. Chapter 17

Thanks to LaserLens4, ganadoleader, y1fellas, angelicoreXX, juter4397, BlackShock95, Dashie, Disney-hp-freak, Timon64, Sonicsmash4, rederci939, and Pinkamena The Medic for their reviews! :D

juter4397 - Obviously I couldn't respond to your review since you weren't signed it, so let me just say: Challenge accepted.

I don't own MLP! (Or Monty Python)

…

With chemistry class over for the day and Fluttershy off to her music class, Twilight decided to head over to the dining hall for lunch. Once again, she settled on a salad, and wasn't able to bring herself to take anything else. She headed over to where Rarity and Pinkie Pie were sitting.

"Hello Twilight." Rarity greeted as Twilight sat down. Pinkie beamed at her friend, looking excited as usual.

"Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're here!" Pinkie exclaimed, her tone somewhere between happy and anxious. "I need your opinion on something!"

Rarity groaned. "Pinkie - "

"No Rarity, I'm sure Twilight will definitely notice!" Pinkie insisted to a rather unconvinced looking Rarity. "Twilight, is it just me, or is the pink is my hair a lot pinker than usual?" Pinkie asked, bringing a poofy strand of her pink-streaked hair in front of her face to inspect it. "It's totally different from yesterday, right?"

"Pinker…?" Twilight asked, inspecting her friend's hair. She couldn't see any difference. "I dunno Pinkie, what's so different about it?"

"I dunno, it's kind of lighter… or maybe it's darker… well, I'm not sure but it's _definitely _different!" Pinkie explained confidently, her eyebrows furrowed. Her face split into a giant grin again as she noticed Applejack approaching the table. "Ooh, ooh, Applejack! I have a question for you! Twilight and Rarity couldn't see it, but I know you will!"

Rarity and Twilight shrugged apologetically as Applejack looked at them questioningly. "Uh… alrighty then, sugercube. What's on yer mind?"

At this point Twilight wasn't paying attention to her lunch, and she accidently fumbled with her salad fork. She sighed as it landed under the table with a metallic ting. As Pinkie continued rambling to Applejack (who looked confused), Twilight ducked under the table to retrieve the fallen utensil.

Unfortunately for Twilight, the fork had somehow managed to bounce just out of her reach. She stretched an arm towards it as far as she could go without having to leave her seat, but she was still a couple of inches short. An odd feeling filled her body as she continued to strain towards the fork, and the edges of her vision became slightly fuzzy. The fork glowed purple, then suddenly lifted itself off of the floor and flew the remaining few inches into Twilight's outstretched hand.

A sudden wave of dizziness caused Twilight to tumble onto the floor with a small cry of alarm. She groaned and rubbed her forehead, feeling a mild headache start to come on. She could hear her friends laughing in amusement at what they assumed was Twilight trying much too hard to retrieve the fork. Twilight watched as all nine of their heads came into view, and their smiles quickly disappeared as they noticed Twilight's utterly confused expression.

"Twi? Y'all right?" Applejack's three heads asked. Twilight blinked rapidly until the three heads turned back into one, and her dizziness subsided soon afterwards. She shakily returned to her seat, noting the concerned expressions her friends were sending her.

Twilight tossed the fork back onto her plate with a grimace. "That was not worth it…"

"Are you alright?" Rarity asked. "What happened?"

Twilight eyed her friends, then nodded in response to the first question. She wasn't sure how to answer the second, because she had no way of explaining what had happened. She wasn't entirely sure herself. She knew that telling them that the fork had magically flown into her hand made no sense whatsoever, so she decided to improvise. "Uh… head rush." Twilight explained briefly. She rubbed her still aching forehead for effect, and added the fork incident to her mental list of things that didn't make sense.

…

When Twilight got back to her dorm room, the first thing she saw was Spike reading a long scroll. The baby dragon glanced up, then waved the letter around. "You'll want to read this!" He exclaimed.

Twilight quickly grabbed the letter from Spike, and settled herself onto her bed. Since Fluttershy wasn't back from her classes yet and Spike had already seen it, Twilight didn't bother reading it out loud:

_Twilight, my faithful student,_

_I'm so proud of you for figuring out so much on your own. It's only fair that I help fill in some gaps for you, but please understand that there are some questions that I still don't feel comfortable answering._

_While you are in your world, rest assured that it is impossible for you to turn into a pony; though I am pleased that you made this connection, for it's very important. As you've already figured out, you used to be a citizen of Equestria. It's my hope to bring you back here, but in order to do this I need to prepare you both mentally and physically. For example, I've been trying to influence your diet to prepare you for when you come to Equestria._

_Remember Twilight; you are never alone. You have five friends standing by you, and it's no coincidence that you've shared such similar lives. As you may have guessed, you were all once little ponies. The biggest change that you will all have to overcome is magic._

_You see Twilight, the biggest difference between a human and an Equestrian pony is that a pony is a magical being. When I was forced to transform you into a human child, I had to drain most of your magic. I did not want you to stick out in such a foreign society, but I could never bring myself to take away everything from you, so I left a tiny bit of magic intact. This magic is what has allowed us to communicate through the years in your dreams._

_Now the time has come for me to reintroduce magic to you and your friends. I've been slowly infusing you with it the entire time you've been at university, and I'm sure you've noticed some of its side effects. Eye and hair colour, for example, is influenced by magic, since magic is connected to pony genetics. You may also have noticed symptoms such as fatigue or muscle aches as your body tries to adjust._

_Your friends Applejack and Pinkie Pie have relatively simple magic, and thus I'm nearly finished transfusing them. Their brief illness was entirely a result of that final push, and for that, I deeply apologize. I do not mean to cause any discomfort, but it's imperative that you are all well prepared. _

_You and Rarity both have extraordinarily complex magic: especially you, Twilight. Because of that, I'm not sure when I'll be completely finished, but I'm working my hardest to bring you here in a timely manner. Please be sure to forewarn both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash today, for I'm afraid they may be in for a rough night. Again, I deeply apologize, but it must be done._

_Your parents are anxiously awaiting your return. I've been keeping them up to date with what's going on._

_-Princess Celestia_

Twilight read the letter over three times before turning her attention back to Spike. "This is crazy." She said, her thoughts flying wildly around her head. "I'm going to return to Equestria? As what, a pony?" She asked out loud.

Spike shrugged. "I guess so. There aren't any humans in Equestria, Twilight."

Twilight read over the letter again for good measure. "Magic… what does she mean by magic?" Twilight asked, looking questioningly at the little purple dragon.

"Well…" Spike said. "You know, magic!" He elaborated unhelpfully, twirling a claw for emphasis. When Twilight narrowed her eyes to show she wasn't following, Spike tried to explain it further. "It's what lets pegasi fly and walk on clouds, and earth ponies have a magical connection to the earth that lets them grow food better. But unicorns are special 'cause they can use magic voluntarily… like to levitate objects and stuff."

Twilight's interest was piqued at the very last part of Spike's explanation, and she thought back to the fork. There must be a relationship; after all, she'd definitely seen herself as a unicorn in her dream.

Although Twilight was glad to finally be able to start piecing things together, she was frustrated that Celestia skipped over the part that she was most curious about. "So why was I taken away in the first place? And why am I only going back now?" Twilight asked.

"I honestly dunno, Twilight…" Spike said. Twilight nodded slowly, understanding that this was something the princess wouldn't have told him. But why was Twilight herself being kept in the dark?

…

For the next hour, Twilight was entirely occupied by physics equations. She had been too distracted to remember to check her email for the last couple of days, and was horrified to realize that her physics professor had sent them problems to complete before her next class – which was now only forty-five minutes away.

She was so focused in her work that she jumped when somebody knocked gently on the door. Spike dove behind Twilight's bed, but before Twilight could get up from her desk to answer the door, there was a slightly clicking noise as somebody unlocked it. Fluttershy walked in and gave a quick glance around the room before moving aside to let Applejack and Rainbow Dash in.

"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow Dash greeted before throwing herself on top of the studious girl's bed. Twilight nodded absently, having immediately refocused on her homework.

Applejack took a seat beside Rainbow Dash and looked curiously at Twilight. "Twi? Whatcha up to now?"

Twilight squinted at her physics assignment. "Homework. Homework that's due in less than an hour." She said, fighting to keep the alarm out of her voice. "I only have one question left, but it doesn't make any sense… 'what's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?' I mean, how am I even supposed to figure that out?"

Fluttershy looked curious. "African or European swallow?" The animal lover asked from her spot on her own bed.

"I don't… oh, forget it." Twilight sighed, pulling herself away from her work. She'd promised to explain everything to Rainbow and Applejack, so her homework would have to wait. She rolled her desk chair closer to them. "Okay, you guys probably aren't going to believe me, but there's a pretty insane reason you've been dreaming of ponies. Your dreams aren't just dreams; they're reality."

"Twilight, what're ya talkin' about?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight hesitated. "There's a world out there where talking ponies exist called Equestria. And we're all connected to it." Rainbow Dash and Applejack shared a look, clearly concerned about Twilight's mental status. Twilight sighed. "Okay, well, maybe Spike can do a better job of convincing you… He's a dragon from Equestria who's been sent to live with me for a bit."

Upon hearing his name, Spike peeked out from beneath Twilight's bed. Twilight spotted him, and gave a slight nod. With a grin, Spike crawled on top of the bed and waved at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Hiya, I'm Spike!" He introduced himself.

Applejack looked shocked, but Rainbow fell over laughing. "Twilight, that's a good one! How did you get that thing to look like it's talking?" She asked, grinning.

Spike frowned, then blew a large stream of fire towards the center of the room. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, and she immediately stopped laughing. "I'm real, got it? And everything Twilight said is true!" Spike exclaimed, crossing his arms.

"Spike, don't do that, you'll catch the place on fire!" Twilight scolded. She glanced over at her two friends, who had gotten over the initial shock fairly quickly and were now looking curious. Twilight smiled, then recounted everything she knew to them. The fact that she could now explain Applejack's mysterious illness and Rainbow's oddly coloured eyes seemed to help them grasp how everything was related.

"When did you learn that?" Fluttershy asked curiously as Twilight explained magic as best she could.

"Oh, Princess Celestia responded to the letter I sent this morning." Twilight said, going to her desk to retrieve it.

"Hey, let me see that!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, and then got up, took the letter from Twilight, and settled back on the bed with it. Applejack read over Rainbow's shoulder.

"She's nearly finished transfusin' me and Pinkie?" Applejack asked, looking confused. "Ah don't really feel much different…"

"Here, test it out!" Spike exclaimed, then jumped from Twilight's bed to her desk to the window sill, where several of Fluttershy's soil-filled cups still sat, none of which had sprouted save for Pinkie's. He picked one up, and delivered it to Applejack. "Any earth pony should be able to make a bean plant grow."

"Uh, what do Ah do?" Applejack asked, and prodded at the dirt. "Bean plants only sprout with proper care an' lotsa… time…" She trailed off in amazement as a tiny green sprout rose through the dirt.

Fluttershy's jaw dropped. "C-can you do that to the rest of them?" She asked, tentatively gesturing to the rest of the dirt-filled cups scattered around the room. "I mean, if that's okay…"

"Ah… Ah guess so." Applejack said, still in shock as she stood up.

"Hey!" Rainbow suddenly exclaimed, still squinting at the scroll in her hands. "What's this supposed to mean? 'Please forewarn both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash today, for I'm afraid they may be in for a rough night'?"

"W-what?" Fluttershy whimpered, quickly scampering over to look at the letter as well.

"I guess it means that the same thing that happened to Pinkie and Applejack will happen to you two…" Twilight guessed while watching in amazement as tiny bean sprouts rose one by one out of the soil as Applejack went around tapping the dirt in the cups.

"Y'all will be fine. Yer only half-conscious fer most ah it anyhow." Applejack explained in an attempt to be comforting, but Fluttershy looked even more alarmed. Applejack yawned, then made her way back over to Twilight's bed, having converted all of the seeds into tiny sprouts. "That took a lot outta me…" Applejack stated. "Ah think I might head back tah mah room an' take a nap or somethin'."

Twilight glanced at her clock, then leapt up. "Oh, I have to get going to class!" She exclaimed, quickly gathering her things. "I'll see you later!" She flew out the door. She wasn't late by any means, but Twilight still preferred to be there several minutes early; especially when she had confusing homework to complete.

…

Answers, answers everywhere! …Well, probably not so much for you guys given the predictable edge of this story. But still.

Spike's explanation on magic was borrowed from that post that explained magic on Lauren Faust's deviantArt page. There's just a minor deviation in that I'm pretty sure she said earth ponies don't have magic themselves… well, screw that, they deserve magic too! It makes sense in my mind…

Until Tuesday… leave me a review!


	18. Chapter 18

Thanks to LaserLens4, TheBigLeBrony, ganadoleader, iPinkNinja, AnimeJolly, AlbinoHamster, Pinkamena The Medic, juter4397, BlackShock95, leeroc101, rederci939, Clamanter, y1fellas, MoneyMan538, Stunningfire, and kroeger562399 for their reviews… holy moly, this is starting to be a chore to recognize all of you guys! (Not that I mind :D) And I've broken 100 reviews! Thanks so much!

Sorry this chapter is both late and short… I didn't think I'd even have it up by tonight, but by pure coincidence it ended up being shorter than usual. Enjoy!

(I don't own MLP)

…

Twilight left her physics class in a slightly disgruntled mood; her frantic last minute homework calculations had been for nothing, since the last question on the assignment had just been put there for a joke. Twilight didn't understand it, plus she hated wasting time.

When Twilight got back to her dorm room, she went to her desk and organized the notes she had taken for the day, as per usual. "Hey, Spike?" Twilight asked, turning to where the purple dragon was lounging on her bed.

"Shh!" Spike hissed, then gestured to Fluttershy's bed, where the shy girl was fast asleep. Fluttershy's habit of doing reading assignments on her bed seemed to have caught up with her, since she was using her biology textbook as a pillow.

Twilight smiled in amusement. "It's okay, Spike. We have to go to supper in a bit anyways; it's probably better to wake her up. Fluttershy?" Twilight called gently. The blonde didn't stir. "Fluttershy!" Twilight called in a more forceful tone.

"I think it might be that magic thing Princess Celestia was talking about." Spike said worriedly. Twilight considered it for a moment, but then Fluttershy's eyes finally blinked open.

"Hmm… Twilight?" Fluttershy asked quietly as she lifted her head off of her textbook. She covered her mouth with one hand as she yawned, then adjusted herself so that she was lying in a more comfortable position on her pillow.

To Twilight's surprise, Fluttershy's eyes drooped shut again. "Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled, causing her roommate's blue-green eyes to shoot open. "Are you okay? We're supposed to meet the others for supper soon…" Twilight explained, concern lacing her tone.

"Oh…" Fluttershy said, looking as if she was struggling to remain awake. "I don't think I'll go… I'm really tired."

Twilight and Spike shared a look. "Yeah, we can see that." Spike said as Fluttershy's eyes closed once again.

"Do you want me to bring you back anything?" Twilight offered.

"No thank you…" Fluttershy murmured. "I'm not very hungry…"

Twilight moved uncertainly towards the exit. "Well, okay…" Twilight said, but figured she should bring something back anyways. Before leaving, she looked at Spike. "Keep an eye on her, okay?" Twilight whispered. Spike saluted her with a grin, and Twilight headed out.

…

Given Fluttershy's condition, Twilight hadn't expecting Rainbow Dash to make it to supper either. She was proven wrong, but although Rainbow wasn't asleep, she certainly wasn't entirely awake. The girl with the rainbow-tipped hair prodded her spoon half-heartedly at a bowl of minestrone, her head rested on one arm. She hadn't even bothered putting on sunglasses, though her pink eyes were still half hidden by her eyelids.

"Magic takes a lot outta ya, don't it Dash?" Applejack asked, her tone partially concerned and partially teasing. Rainbow seemed to have only heard the teasing part, for she sent Applejack a glare that clearly said she wasn't in the mood for it.

"Magic?" Pinkie asked, her eyes lighting up. "What kind of magic? Like a magic show? I didn't know you did magic, Dashie!"

"Pinkie, shut up." Rainbow snapped. Pinkie Pie quieted, looking stung. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Sorry, just my patience levels are getting really, _really_ low." She stabbed at her soup for emphasis, causing bits of minestrone to decorate the table.

Rarity looked between everyone, confusion playing on her face. "I feel as if I'm missing something…" She mused, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Oh, right." Twilight realized, then quickly explained to Rarity and Pinkie Pie the contents of the letter she had received earlier from Princess Celestia.

When Twilight explained how the princess wanted them to go to Equestria, Pinkie was quick to comment. "You mean like, go to Equestria on vacation? And then come back?" Pinkie asked, tipping her head curiously.

Twilight hesitated. "I… I'm not sure. I was under the assumption we'd be staying… We were all born there, after all." Twilight hadn't given a lot of thought to it, but now she realized that the answer to Pinkie's question would have an impact on the entire course of their lives. Would she even have a chance to complete her education? …And certainly the society would be a huge adjustment.

"I'm not sure I follow, Twilight…" Rarity admitted. "My biological parents are here in _our _world."

"Rarity…" Twilight said carefully. "Are you, well, _sure _about that? The princess mentioned all six of us specifically…"

Rarity nodded. "Of course I'm sure! …Well, I mean…" She suddenly looked uncertain. "I mean, I suppose I don't look much like either of my parents... And I've always found it odd that there aren't any baby pictures of me…" Rarity cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, no, never mind. The pictures of me were all destroyed in a terrible house fire when I was young, just like they'd always told me… And children don't necessarily have to look like their parents, after all!" Rarity said firmly. Her friends looked at her uncertainly, and Rarity sighed. "Well, I'll ask them, but I already know what they'll say!"

"Uh, girls?" Applejack hesitantly interrupted the conversation. "Ah think we oughta get Dash back home before she drowns in her own supper."

The rest of them glanced over to where Rainbow's head was hovering sleepily over her bowl of soup. She looked at her friends drowsily. "Very funny…" She muttered to Applejack, then pulled herself to a standing position. She winced, then stretched her shoulders backwards, her face showing signs of discomfort. "God, my back is _killing._" She complained as the others followed her lead and stood up.

"Maybe ya pulled somethin' in PAL class earlier?" Applejack suggested.

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. "No way! I'd never be stupid enough to do something like that!" She argued, and just barely suppressed a yawn. "All I gotta say is this magic crap had better be worth it."

…

Twilight arrived back to a still-asleep Fluttershy and a rather pissed-off looking Spike.

"Of course, _now _you come back!" Spike exclaimed, throwing his tiny arms in the air.

"…What?" Twilight asked, surprised at his outburst.

Spike gestured to Fluttershy. "She woke up like fifteen minutes ago begging me for pain medication. You know how long it took me to find that stuff?" Spike growled.

Twilight sighed. "Spike, I keep all of my medicine underneath the back-up copies of my class notes in the second half of my bottom desk drawer." Twilight explained in an exasperated manner, pulling open said drawer for emphasis. "You should know… that…" She trailed off, noting that her drawer was an absolute disaster. She glared daggers at Spike, waiting for an explanation.

Spike wrung his claws together anxiously. "Uh… well, I found them?" Spike said, smiling. Twilight did not look impressed. Spike sighed. "Look, I was just trying to help Fluttershy… I don't know if those pills will do her any good though; magic works in weird ways."

Feeling that she had to do something, Twilight went to Fluttershy's side and anxiously moved some of her hair out of her face. Fluttershy woke up and surveyed Twilight with a confused expression. "Hey, Fluttershy." Twilight said softly. "I brought you a sandwich, if you want."

Fluttershy weakly shook her head no. "I'm okay Twilight, I'm not hungry. I'm just really sleepy."

"Okay…" Twilight gave in, and backed away. Twilight remembered how both Pinkie Pie and Applejack refused breakfast, and Twilight was now quite certain that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were suffering from the same thing as them.

Fluttershy went back to sleep fairly quickly, and remained so for several hours. Twilight took the time to review for psychology and calculus, and though Fluttershy was practically the opposite of a noisy roommate, the silence of the room was still eerie. Twilight and Spike still went to sleep at their normal time, and hoped that everything would be over in the morning.

…

"Twilight… T-Twilight!"

Twilight came out of her sleep, quickly noting the time on the clock as being 1:26am.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy's voice repeated. "Please…" She whimpered.

Twilight's head shifted automatically towards the sound of her name, but she couldn't see anything past the darkness. She stood and groped around for the lightswitch. When she found it, she could see Fluttershy curled into a ball in her bed, with Spike at her side. Both flinched at the sudden light.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked quickly. Instead of responding, Fluttershy gave a cry of pain and arched her back scarily upwards. Spike tried desperately to calm her, and Twilight was at her side in an instant.

"My back… my back…!" Fluttershy cried.

"W-what?" Twilight asked, fighting to keep panic out of her voice as her heart hammered in her chest. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if there was anything she could do. Her friend was in pain, but she had to trust in a magical flying pony from another world that everything would be okay. It was frustrating to say the least.

Twilight watched helplessly as Fluttershy moaned and rolled onto her stomach. "S-something's not right…" Fluttershy whimpered, her arms reaching around to feel her back. "I think I can feel something…"

Twilight gently reached over and pulled the back of Fluttershy's shirt up, praying that she was wrong and everything was fine. Twilight let out a small gasp as she realized the problem, and Spike looked over as well. Unbelievably, Fluttershy had several yellow feathers sticking out from just below each of her shoulder blades. Hesitantly, Twilight reached out and touched them, finding them to be connected to Fluttershy's back. Fluttershy didn't have a pain response, but she still froze.

"…Twilight… W-what did you just do?" She asked, sounding panicked.

"…Uh…" Twilight stalled, trying to find the right words to explain what she was looking at. Fluttershy suddenly cried out in pain again, and Twilight watched as a tiny bit more of what was appearing to be a set of wings appeared, accompanied by a dull golden light.

Suddenly, the sound of Rainbow swearing loudly carried through the thin walls, and Twilight flinched.

It was going to be a long night.

…

God I'm impressed that I'm getting this up tonight. I wrote it almost entirely in one sitting, and I swear I'm the slowest writer ever. It took me over four hours for this tiny chapter. BE THANKFUL. :D

New image thingy… meh. I figured it would look kind of ugly to have a default grey person in front of my story on the listings, so I stole a picture of Sweetie Belle from the FiM wiki and uploaded it as my avatar. Except Sweetie Belle has like, barely anything to do with this story, especially at this point. Well, whatever. She's still cute. And I'd either have to commission an artist, steal somebody else's stuff, or draw stick people if I wanted to relate it to this story. lol

On an unrelated note, I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep reading a textbook because my bed's more comfortable. I'm stupid.

See you Friday!


	19. Chapter 19

Thanks to my reviewers: y1fellas, kroeger562399, ganadoleader, Endymion Blue, Jake-Everfree, Alex Barkhorn, Stunningfire, juter4397, DarkStratos, Pinkamena The Medic, Sandstorm3D, rederci939, and Hydrog3n Cyanide! Yay!

I do respond to all signed reviews… so basically, if you're logged in, I'll send you a quick response to address any questions, respond to suggestions, or just say thanks for leaving a review. If you don't want me to do this, feel free to tell me so. I won't be offended.

I don't own MLP!

…

The cries of pain from both sides of the wall were hard to ignore, so it didn't take very long for Twilight to decide on a course of action. She left Fluttershy under the care of Spike, then hurried next door.

Unsurprisingly, Rainbow's door was unlocked. Twilight flicked on the overhead lights, and found Rainbow lying on her stomach in an identical position to Fluttershy. Her eyes, which had been squeezed shut, opened in response to the light.

Rainbow squinted in Twilight's direction. "Twi… Twilight? I think I'm growing wings… Oh Jesus -" Twilight winced as Rainbow swore as colourfully as her hair. Twilight carefully went to her side.

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash glanced up, her teeth gritted. "I want to keep an eye on both you and Fluttershy until this is over. Is it okay if I take you over to my room?"

Rainbow groaned, apparently at the idea of moving, but she allowed Twilight to help her first to a sitting position, then to a standing one. Twilight realized that Rainbow was small, but as she leant on Twilight out of exhaustion, she was shocked by how light she was. Twilight reflected back to the night where five of them struggled to get drunken Rainbow up two flights of stairs, and it didn't add up; Twilight was almost sure that she could carry Rainbow Dash by herself now, if need be. Twilight felt like a child for blaming it on magic, but she didn't have another explanation.

Rainbow collapsed on Twilight's bed as soon as they entered her room. Twilight sighed, feeling absolutely useless as her two friends lay there suffering.

"T-Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight turned, and knelt beside Fluttershy. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly.

A single tear escaped from her teal eyes. "I'm really scared, Twilight." Fluttershy admitted, her voice breaking halfway through. Twilight could tell she was trying her best to hold it in.

That did it. "Spike, take a letter." Twilight demanded, though she didn't leave Fluttershy's side. Spike scrambled to gather the supplies, then waited dutifully for Twilight to continue. "Ask her if there's anything she can do, or anything I can do at all to help them." Twilight said, almost pleadingly.

Spike scribbled it out, then went to the window and sent it. "I don't know if she'll respond quickly enough, Twilight." Spike told her. "I don't know if it's nighttime in Equestria too, but even if it isn't, she could be busy… she's our princess, after all."

Twilight understood, but she hoped that he was wrong. As Rainbow and Fluttershy both let out more pained cries, Twilight was certain that they would start to catch the attention of the others who lived on their floor.

She turned out to be exactly right. First, the boy that lived across the hall from them knocked and asked if they were okay. Twilight didn't even know his name; they'd never spoken. She decided it was best not to answer the door, and instead reassured him that she could handle it.

Marilyn, their RA and house president, knocked several minutes later. Twilight was a bit surprised, since she lived at the other end of the hallway. Twilight once again stated that everything was being taken care of, and prayed that she didn't use her key to enter. Seeing as it was Marilyn's job to keep order around third floor, she was much more difficult to convince. Twilight had to literally request that she leave before she grudgingly left them alone.

As the minutes ticked by with neither improvement from either of her friends or a letter from Princess Celestia, Twilight decided to take matters into her own hands. She coaxed advil into them. She tried putting cold cloths on their backs, then hot cloths when that didn't work. She even tried a back massage, but instantly regretted using Rainbow as the test subject, since her first reaction was to whirl around and attempt to knock Twilight upside the head. Twilight just barely avoided her.

With a frustrated cry of her own, Twilight threw herself onto her floor. She was exhausted too, and nothing she was doing seemed to have any positive effect. Suddenly, someone started knocking rapidly on her door. Twilight groaned. "Look, everything's fine, I'm - "

"Twilight?" Rarity's voice interrupted.

"Ya sure don't sound fine." Applejack commented.

"Let us in! Let us in!" Pinkie called anxiously.

Twilight hurried to get up and unlock the door. "Girls?" She asked, looking at the three of them in surprise.

"We could hear from our room." Rarity said quietly as she went over to Fluttershy, who smiled appreciatively.

"Yeh, I didn't know folks still used some ah the words Rainbow was spoutin'." Applejack said with a grin as she checked on her friend.

"Don't touch me." Rainbow growled, though Applejack hadn't made any indication that she was planning on doing so. Creepily, Rainbow's wings fluttered in defense from underneath her blue tank top.

As three sets of eyes turned to stare at Twilight for an explanation, Twilight told them what she thought was going on.

Pinkie giggled. "Well, guess we're having a sleepover then!" She declared brightly.

"Really?" Twilight asked as Applejack and Rarity nodded in agreement.

"Of course, darling!" Rarity declared, smiling.

"Friends stick together." Applejack stated with a grin.

As the night wore on, all seven of them became more and more run-down. Just over an hour before the morning rays would arrive to filter through the window, both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy miraculously fell asleep. The remaining four girls plus Spike all breathed huge sighs of relief, though Spike's sigh ended with a large belch and a trail of fire.

Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie all flinched back, but Twilight simply reached over and grabbed the letter out of the air. She had gotten quite used to it.

_Twilight,_

_Once again, I'm deeply sorry. I've only just received your letter, and I've adjusted the spell slightly. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash should both be asleep, and if I'm wrong, please write back immediately so I can try again. I'm using extraordinarily complicated magic. Please forgive me._

_When they awaken, please encourage them to test their wings._

_-Princess Celestia_

"…_Test their wings?" _Twilight exclaimed. "How long are they going to be asleep for? For a set of wings to even be able to sustain the weight of a human in the air… they'd have to grow at least a fifteen foot wingspan!" Twilight groaned and flopped onto her floor. The others soon joined her, sleep deprivation clearly starting to take over. Spike curled up not-so-inconspicuously next to Rarity, who patted him like one might a cat. Rarity shot Twilight a questioning look, and Twilight could only smile in amusement before her eyelids became much too heavy to keep open.

As exhausted as she knew she had been, she was still surprised when she woke up several hours later on her floor with several of her friends lying around her, wrapped in the bedsheets that Rarity had brought for Spike. It took Twilight a few moments to remember how she'd gotten there, but once she did, she shot upright and glanced at her clock. She gasped in horror as she realized she'd slept through all of her classes. "My alarm!" She said in panic. "Why didn't my alarm go off?"

"Oh, it went off all right. It was annoying, so I turned it off." Rainbow's voice explained, though Twilight couldn't see where she was. Twilight turned and saw that Fluttershy was still in her bed. She was awake and seemed okay, though she was staring in terror at something above Twilight's head…

Twilight hesitantly glanced upwards to see Rainbow quite literally hovering near the ceiling. Her jaw dropped. "Rainbow you're… you're being very physically impossible." Twilight said, unable to take her eyes off of her. Not only was she somehow hovering by simply beating her wings up and down, Twilight estimated her wingspan at just over four feet: impossibly tiny.

Rainbow grinned smugly as she beat her new cyan wings rhythmically. "Of course you'd think that, Twilight. By the way, what did we drink last night? Must've been strong… I don't remember a whole lot, and you guys look terrible… uh, no offense."

Twilight stared at her in disbelief. "You don't remember last night? …Are you kidding me."

Rainbow laughed. "Well, I remember a bit. I was kinda in and out, y'know? Lots of pain in my back… from these babies, right?" She poked at her wings in midair. "But I feel totally fine now. No hangover." She said proudly. "I woke up when that stupid alarm of yours went off, and after I realized what had happened I cut some holes in my top so I could fly… neat huh?"

Twilight sighed. It was probably for the best that Rainbow Dash didn't remember much. "Rainbow, we weren't drinking…" Twilight debriefed her on what had gone on last night. She figured Fluttershy was probably listening too.

"Ohhhh…" Rainbow said, and finally descended back to the ground. "You know, I was wondering why we were drinking on a Tuesday…" Twilight glared at her, and Rainbow smiled sheepishly. "Seriously though, it was really cool of you guys to look out for us like that. Thanks a lot."

"Thank you." Fluttershy echoed.

The rest of the girls as well as Spike were starting to come around, and it wasn't long before they were prompting Rainbow to show off her new wings, which she was more than happy to do.

"C'mon, Fluttershy!" Rainbow called from her spot in the air. "It's fun, I promise!"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I-I don't think so…" The rest of them encouraged her to try her wings out, but Fluttershy was insistent on staying grounded. "I don't like heights…" She squeaked, looking frightened even watching Rainbow Dash.

After a little while, the girls decided to leave Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike in order to either attend any remaining classes, or catch up on sleep.

"I just don't think I'll ever want to fly, Twilight." Fluttershy admitted once the others were gone. "It seems so… high." Unlike Rainbow, Fluttershy hadn't cut any openings for her wings, so they were concealed underneath her shirt. Fluttershy seemed to prefer it that way.

"That's okay," Twilight comforted. She was busy emailing her two professors apologies for missing their classes, despite her friends insisting that they would neither care nor even notice her absence. "Didn't you tell me you dreamed you lived in the clouds, though?"

"Cloudsdale." Spike elaborated.

"Yeah, you dreamed you lived in Cloudsdale?"

"…Oh, well, um…" Fluttershy blushed. "Well, yes, yes I have had dreams like that, but I'd, well, never look over the edge."

Twilight couldn't help it; she and Spike both laughed, and Fluttershy joined in after a few moments.

"I've never heard of a pegasus pony who was afraid of heights!" Spike chuckled.

Twilight looked at him curiously. "I've heard you say that word before… pegasus… but you've never really explained it to us. I think I can understand what it means, though. Pegasus ponies are ponies with wings, right?"

"You got it." Spike flashed her a thumbs up. "Pegasi are the only ponies that can fly or walk on clouds, so most of them have jobs in the weather patrol, or as things like delivery service ponies or stunt-ponies."

"And earth ponies… you referred to Applejack as an earth pony. What's that mean?"

"Earth ponies don't have wings or horns, but they have a magical connection to the earth, which makes them really good at things like growing plants and tending to animals." Spike explained.

Twilight nodded. "And… unicorns…" Twilight was most interested in unicorns, since she supposedly was one. "What about unicorns?"

"Unicorns are the only type that can control magic freely." Spike said. "All unicorns can do basic spells, such as levitating objects or emitting light from their horns, but each individual unicorn can also do magic that is specific to whatever their special talent is. So, a maintenance unicorn might get magic to help him fix things, or a cook unicorn might get magic to help her bake and prepare yummier food. Stuff like that." He finished, stretching. "Don't think about it too hard, though. Concentrating on differences is what caused all of the hatred in Equestria's history. All ponies should consider each other equals."

Twilight nodded, smiling at him. "And what about dragons?"

Spike shrugged. "Eh. Nopony really knows much about dragons… they like to study me to find out more about them, but I don't know much about dragons either, so I don't think I'm a huge help." Both Twilight and Fluttershy laughed. Twilight felt that she was starting to understand Equestria, though she still didn't understand why she was forced to come to Earth. She wished she'd never had to leave Equestria; it sounded like paradise.

…

I ended up making the first part too long, so I didn't have time to include anything more interesting… sorry. :P Next time.

I don't have a whole lot to say on this chapter, other than Rainbow could do that physically impossible stuff because her wings are magic. I mean, come on, there has to be _some _degree of magic used in pegasi flight, since physically it doesn't make a ton of sense. :D That, and it's a cartoon designed for children, not over-analytical teenagers. But whatever.

Leave a review, and I'll get back to you with the next chapter on Tuesday.


	20. Chapter 20

Thanks to LaserLens4, iPinkNinja, ganadoleader, y1fellas, kroeger562399, TheMasenkoMan, Half-Angel-Writer, Jake-Everfree, Timon64, Ethan557, juter4397, rederci939, Stunningfire, Endymion Blue, Sandstorm3D, MoneyMan538, Pinkamena The Medic, Alex Leep, and LenaDuchannes for reviewing since last time! WOO. Sorry if I've misspelt any usernames now or in the past or future. Some of you guys have such long ones hahaha… you should all have short ones, like "Neonz"! ;) Just kidding.

I breached 10 000 views on this story yesterday, which is REALLY cool! Thanks so much everyone. :D

I don't own MLP.

…

Twilight was still fairly upset over missing both of her day's classes, especially as Fluttershy was preparing to head off to her English class, so she started reading over the next chapter from her psychology textbook. She groaned and slumped over her desk, feeling too tired to do anything.

"Oh, Twilight," Fluttershy smiled gently as she picked up her English notes and a few pencils from her desk. "I'm sure it's okay to miss two little classes. You're really smart; you'll catch up in no time."

Twilight nodded absently and glanced over. "I know, you're right…" Twilight said, though only to appease her. She had no intention of ever falling behind.

"Maybe you should take a nap like Spike." Fluttershy suggested as she carefully stepped over said baby dragon, who had fallen asleep a little while ago. "I mean… you were up all night…" Fluttershy said quietly. Twilight guessed that she felt guilty, though Twilight would never blame her or Rainbow for the night's events.

Twilight nodded again, watching Fluttershy as she started to head for the door. Twilight suddenly noticed something. "Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, causing the shy girl to pause and turn around.

"Yes, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight smiled. "Your hair is starting to turn colour, just like the princess said."

Fluttershy's eyes widened, and she darted towards a mirror to confirm it. There were only a few light pink streaks so far, but it was still enough for Fluttershy to gasp in horror. "Oh… oh my goodness, Twilight! I can't have pink hair!" Fluttershy whimpered. "People will look at me… I don't want to stand out…"

Twilight shook her head. "It looks cute on you." She argued. "Besides, there's not much we can do about it anyways, right?"

Fluttershy nodded in defeat. "I guess…" She mumbled, then pulled on a thick sweater to make sure that her wings stayed well hidden. "I'll see you after class. Please get at least a little sleep?"

"Okay, bye!" Twilight said as Fluttershy exited. She had to say, a nap sounded very tempting. Twilight looked at her bed, then at her psychology textbook, then back at her bed again. A short nap couldn't hurt anything… right? She yawned as she settled herself on top of her bed, figuring that Fluttershy would wake her when she arrived back in an hour.

…

"Raaaarity!" Pinkie Pie sang as she bounced energetically towards the door. No amount of sleep deprivation could keep that girl down. "I need to meet Fluttershy for English class! I'll see you in an hour, okay?"

Rarity, who was lounging on her bed, nodded and waved. "Alright, Pinkie." Rarity felt that Pinkie's name was starting to take on a literal meaning, since the pink in her hair was spreading rapidly. Though Pinkie was in love with it, Rarity could only pray that she didn't suffer the same fate.

As Pinkie bounded out the door, Rarity turned her attention to her cell phone, which was resting on her desk. A call home was long overdue, but Rarity was putting it off as much as possible after her conversation with Twilight. Could her parents really be ponies, like in her dreams? The very idea shouldn't have made any sense to her, but instead… she found it logical.

With a deep breath, she picked up her phone and dialed her home number. "Hello?" The familiar tone of her mother came across the line.

"Mother…" Rarity hesitated, realizing she should have tried to think of a gateway into the conversation beforehand.

"Rarity, dear? Is something the matter?"

"U-um… no. No, everything's fine, mother. Just calling to check up." Rarity said quickly.

"Oh, Rarity…" Her mother sighed. "Well, I'm glad you've called. There's something really important that I need to discuss with you… Something your father and I really should have talked with you about before you went away for university…"

Rarity's heart lurched forward as she jumped to conclusions. "Is it about me being adopted?"

"Oh, no sweetheart, it's about your student loa… wait, _what did you just say?"_

Rarity winced and held the receiver away from her ear. "Um…" She stalled, realizing her mistake, but figured she might as well go with the topic change. "I'm adopted, aren't I?"

"Oh, Rarity, darling, how on earth did you find out that you were adopted?" Her mother continued, her voice shaky. Rarity's eyes widened as her suspicions were confirmed. "We were waiting for the right moment… And, well, I suppose we may have waited a _tad_ too long…"

"…A… a _tad?"_ Rarity yelled, unable to fully comprehend what she was hearing. "I'm an adult! Don't you think I have a right to know who my biological parents are?" She continued, anger starting to take over.

"Rarity…" Her mother continued slowly. "It's very, very complicated - "

"Oh, I know it's complicated! I know all about it, mother; the ponies, Equestria, the whole thing! Perhaps I could have realized sooner if it weren't for _you!" _She screeched.

"Rarity, please listen to me - "

"Why should I listen to you?" She hissed, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"This is very important - "

"Oh, forget it, mother… if I can even call you that anymore." She said icily, then hung up before she had to listen to her voice any longer. She tossed her phone to the other end of the bed, then buried her face in her pillow and ignored her mother's attempts to call her back.

Eventually her phone silenced, and Rarity suddenly felt immensely guilty. She was furious that this information was withheld from her, but at the same time, these were people that had been generous enough to raise her entirely as their own. She was well aware of how much she owed them, and how lucky she had been to find them. And she'd acted like an immature little girl instead of thanking them.

She was too ashamed to call them back, so she curled up and let her thoughts overtake her.

When Pinkie Pie arrived back right on time carrying a huge stack of books, Rarity was still brooding. Pinkie didn't immediately notice, as she was preoccupied trying to organize all of her books into a spot on her desk.

"Look how much reading we were assigned!" Pinkie exclaimed as she tried to find a way to fit all of the books on her desk. "Well, not all of these books are actually assigned, because we had to go to the library to pick them all up and there's just so many interesting books at the library that I wanted to pick up a lot of extras in case I had time to do more reading later! Fluttershy stayed behind to finish reading at the library, but the rules there are so silly, I mean, why would anyone not want to talk? Well, I guess Fluttershy doesn't like talking all that much, so it's great for her, but I don't know what I would do if I wasn't allowed to talk! So I decided to come back here, because I'm allowed to talk here." Pinkie chattered in her usual fast tone, and finally turned around to look at Rarity. Her smile faltered. "Oh, now I feel bad, you should have interrupted me… Did something happen?" She probed worriedly.

Rarity sighed. "Oh Pinkie, I don't know what to think…" Rarity summed up the events of the phone call to her, and when she was finished, Pinkie smiled.

"Rarity, your mom will understand. I mean, that's what moms are for, right?" Pinkie said happily.

"…I suppose…"

Pinkie grabbed Rarity's phone off of the end of her bed, then tossed it over to her. Rarity caught it, looking surprised. "Go on, call her back!" Pinkie urged with a smile. "It'll make you feel better, I promise."

Rarity knew that Pinkie was right, but as she dialed her home phone number, she couldn't help but feel nervous. To her dismay, she reached their voicemail. As the automated voice instructed her to leave a message, Rarity hesitated. "…Mother? Father?" She started, her voice shaky. "Thank you. I'm sorry. Please call me back..." She prayed that they weren't angry with her, and hung up the phone. Pinkie was quick to comfort her, and the poofy-haired girl's positivity alone made Rarity feel a lot better.

...

As she'd predicted, Twilight opened her eyes when the door squeaked open and Fluttershy walked back in.

"Oh," Fluttershy said, looking apologetic. "I'm so sorry, did I wake you?"

Twilight sat up and stretched, feeling refreshed. "No, that's perfect. I need to get back to studying."

Fluttershy hesitated as Twilight stood up and resumed her place at her desk. "U-um, actually, Twilight, we need to go to supper... We're kind of late…"

Twilight blinked in confusion, then looked at her clock. 5:07pm. "W-what?" Twilight exclaimed, looking in confusion at Fluttershy. "You've been gone for four hours? …I've been asleep for four hours!" She realized with a jolt. A quick glance at the ground told her that Spike had been too, though he was starting to wake up with all the commotion.

Fluttershy frowned. "Well, we were assigned a lot of reading in English, so I went to the library to get most of it done… I'm sorry." She shrunk down apologetically.

"It's… it's fine… my fault…" Twilight said, her brain going into overdrive trying to think of a way to compensate. "If I can get that chemistry assignment finished ahead of schedule… and finish the practice problems for physics… maybe I can… um…"

Fluttershy watched worriedly. "We have a chemistry assignment?"

Twilight shook her head. "I made one up for myself. We aren't assigned enough work in that class."

Fluttershy giggled. She was starting to get used to Twilight's obsessive habits. "Let's go eat supper." She urged gently. Twilight rose and walked out the door with her, all the while thinking of ways to reorganize her already reorganized schedule.

…

When Twilight and Fluttershy arrived at supper, the other four girls were already talking fervently.

"Hey girls…" Twilight greeted, curious as to what they were discussing.

She didn't have to wonder for long, because Rarity immediately explained to Twilight and Fluttershy the phone conversation she had with her mother. Twilight nodded, though she'd already sort of known that this would happen.

"Ah should probably call mah mother tonight…" Applejack said worriedly. Her hair was noticeably lighter, even from the couple hours they'd been apart. "Hard tah believe she'd keep somethin' so big from me, though. Y'think maybe they don't know?"

"I don't know…" Rarity sighed.

Rainbow scoffed. "Parents are overrated. I don't need anybody."

"Maybe you'll change your mind when you meet your pony parents!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. Rainbow shrugged, looking unconvinced.

To everyone's surprise, Twilight finished her dinner before anybody else, despite having shown up last, and was standing up to leave. "I have a lot of work to do, so I've gotta run. Sorry." And Twilight was out of dining hall before anybody could argue.

…

Later that evening, Rarity's mother called her back, much to her relief. After a lot of apologizing on both ends, everything seemed alright.

"Mother…" Rarity said cautiously. "What was that 'really important thing' you were trying to tell me about earlier?"

"Oh Rarity, I hope this can answer some of your questions…" Her mother started. "When your father and I adopted you, it was under a strict agreement that it was only to be temporary. We knew one day you'd be taken from us, but we wanted to raise you as our own regardless, and I suppose that was a bit selfish and unfair given the circumstances…"

"Not at all." Rarity smiled.

"Well, we weren't given a lot of details. A lot of families looked over you because of the odd agreement, but we paid it no mind. Over the years that we had you, more and more was revealed to us. We learned who you really were, and I have to say, it was shocking. We were under very strict orders not to tell you anything, and since you were already under the impression that we were your birth parents, well… I knew you'd have questions that I could answer, and I couldn't lie to you. So I said nothing. I'm so sorry, Rarity."

"You'll always be my mother… and tell father the same. I love you both."

"I love you too, sweetheart, no matter where you end up. I'll miss you, but I know you'll be where you belong."

"I'll talk to you again…" Rarity insisted before they said their goodbyes. She glanced over at Pinkie, who had been watching quietly and curiously. She wiped her eyes, then proceeded to tell Pinkie her new findings.

…

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! So, the adoptive parents know, which should make things… somewhat easier? And OCD Twilight is OCD.

It's 5am and I'm not tired whatsoever. And now there's light filtering into my room… lovely (not). I'm setting my alarm for 8am so maybe I'll sleep tomorrow night! (yeah right)

Leave a review… I'll update on Friday as usual!


	21. Chapter 21

Thanks to Alex Barkhorn, ganadoleader, y1fellas, kroeger562399, Alex Leep, Laserlens4, DarkStratos, MoneyMan538, Stunningfire, Pinkamena The Medic, darkheart753, Endymion Blue, rederci939, KiwiLytton, juter4397, and Timon64 for reviewing!

I don't own MLP!

…

Twilight had managed to get her work for chemistry and physics done, but only by staying up for an extra couple of hours into the night, and she still had barely made a dent in her calculus homework. Needless to say, she had woken up the next morning tired and frustrated.

Spike leapt out of Twilight's way as she trudged past him to pack her chemistry notes. At the other side of the room, Fluttershy eyed her roommate nervously from underneath her favourite yellow hoodie. The pink in her hair was spreading rapidly, and Fluttershy refused to go outside without it at least somewhat hidden.

A couple of knocks on their door prompted Fluttershy to open it, though she squeaked and jumped warily backwards as she was greeted by an airborne Rainbow Dash.

"Hey guys!" Rainbow greeted as she casually pumped her blue wings up and down. Her hair now had several rainbow streaks in it that blended with the dyed tips of her hair rather well.

Twilight spun around and dropped her notes in shock. "Rainbow! Get in here!" Twilight hissed, then sprinted to the door and pulled her friend inside. "Are you _crazy?_"

Rainbow Dash landed back on the ground, looking annoyed. "What's your problem?"

Twilight groaned in exasperation as she went to retrieve her chemistry notes. Spike dutifully helped her. "The big deal," Twilight said with an eye roll. "Is that most normal humans _don't fly."_

Rainbow smirked. "I'm hardly a normal human." She said proudly, rising into the air again for emphasis. "Way "above" that. Hehe. What's your point?"

"My point," Twilight continued, her eyes narrowed. "Is that you can't just go around showing off to everyone. Think about it, it's _dangerous. _You could cause mass hysteria!" Twilight explained in an irritated manner.

Rainbow landed back on the ground with a glare. "Looks like it's _somebody's _time of the month…" Rainbow muttered to Fluttershy.

"I heard that!"

"Girls!" Fluttershy said forcefully, though in a tone only slightly louder than what she usually used. It was enough to cause both of the other girls to pause and look at the ground sheepishly.

"Sorry, Rainbow…" Twilight said with a defeated sigh. "I didn't get much sleep..."

Rainbow eyed her curiously. "You sure it's not more of that freaky magic?"

"No. Well, at least I don't think so…"

"Eh, okay." Rainbow said with a shrug. "I guess you had a point on the flying thing anyways." She pulled a white zip-up from out of her bag, and put it on to cover her wings. "C'mon, AJ's probably waiting for us."

…

"Ah talked to mah mother last night." Applejack started explaining as soon as they were all settled down for breakfast. Her hair was now entirely one shade of platinum blonde; Twilight had a feeling that Rarity would be quite impressed, though Applejack seemed more inclined to ignore it. "Turns out she knew everything 'bout Equestria, but wasn't allowed tah tell me…"

"Really?" Twilight asked, interested.

Applejack nodded. "Yeh, she said there was an adoption agreement or somethin' that let her know I'd be… well… goin' away somewhere someday…" Applejack looked sadly at the table. "Ah was real lucky she came along… Dunno how many folks could agree to somethin' like that. Dunno if even Ah could, honestly."

Twilight thought back to her own childhood, where she was constantly bounced around different foster homes. "That… that would make a lot of sense…" Twilight commented quietly. Some kids acted out for attention, but Twilight had taken a more passive approach. She wasn't the most social of children, but she knew that adults admired good behaviour, hard work, and intelligence, so she tried her best to win them over with her strengths in those regards.

All of her foster parents seemed to think she was a good kid, but it didn't matter how many A pluses she earned, or how many academic awards she received. It wasn't good enough for them. She would never be good enough for them…

"Helllooo, Twilight? Earth to Twilight." Rainbow Dash chanted, waving a hand in front of Twilight's face. Twilight blinked, slightly startled.

"Y'all right, sugercube?" Applejack asked, looking concerned.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah… sorry, just thinking."

"Alrighty then." Applejack said, then glanced at the clock. "Should we head out, Dash?"

Rainbow nodded, though she didn't look very enthusiastic. "Yay. Classroom component of PAL." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess we should go too, right Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded in agreement, and the two groups said their goodbyes as they headed off to separate classrooms.

…

Applejack and Rainbow Dash headed down a different path for Thursday's PAL class, since it was in the classroom rather than the gym. However, when they reached the door to the classroom, they found it to be locked and vacant.

"What gives?" Rainbow Dash asked as she peered into the class in annoyance. "Nobody's here!"

Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… Dash, did you check yer email this mornin'?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Class might've been cancelled or relocated." Applejack explained. "Though we don't have any way of knowin' fer sure."

Rainbow perked up. "Class cancelled? _Awesome."_

Applejack chuckled. "Well, let's sit tight for a couple o'minutes. Maybe someone'll come by who can tell us."

The two girls stood outside the classroom for a bit, though they didn't have to wait long for a couple of their confused classmates to join them. Unfortunately, Garrett and some of his friends were among them.

When Garrett tried pulling unsuccessfully on the door, Rainbow scoffed at him. "It's locked, genius. You think we didn't try that already?"

Garrett shot her a glare. "Well look who's all brave now. Gonna stop hiding behind your friend, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash took a couple of bold steps forward. "You think I can't take care of myself?"

Applejack watched nervously. "Rainbow - "

"I _know _you can't take care of yourself. The fact that you only hang out with total losers now only reinforces it." Garrett shot back.

"Hey, my friends are twenty times cooler than you jerks!" Rainbow yelled, taking a few more steps forward so that she was right in front of them and then assumed a fighting stance. "I bet you're total cowards too!"

Applejack grabbed Rainbow's arm and attempted to guide her away, but Rainbow Dash jerked out of her grasp. "Rainbow, cool it." Applejack hissed, not wanting to be involved in an outnumbered fight.

Garrett only laughed at her. "You're spunky for such a tiny thing." He taunted. "I'm not going to fight a girl, Rainbow, especially one that can't even see over my shoulders. They should have called you "Rainbow Brash"; I'd beat you to a pulp, and you know it." He seemed more amused than annoyed, which calmed Applejack but infuriated Rainbow Dash.

In one fluid motion, Rainbow's white zip-up was on the ground, and she herself was in the air, wearing a blue t-shirt with slits cut in the back for her wings. For a few moments, there was a stunned silence, and Rainbow proudly took it in. "Now who's too short, jackass?" Rainbow asked as she hovered arrogantly over Garrett's head.

Realizing he was suddenly at a disadvantage, Garrett and the rest of his group quickly scrambled backwards, starting in absolute amazement at Rainbow's cyan wings. A few bystanders pulled out cellphones to take pictures, and it was at that point that Applejack grabbed Rainbow and forcefully yanked her to the ground. Rainbow shot her friend an annoyed look, but Applejack ignored her and instead scooped the zip-up off of the floor, forced it into Rainbow's arms, and dragged her outside.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow asked once they were outside and Rainbow had managed to wriggle free of Applejack's grip.

Applejack stared at her incredulously. "What am _Ah _doin'? Rainbow, yer lettin' yer temper control ya! You can't go showin' off _wings, _fer goodness sake!"

"You sound like Twilight…" Rainbow muttered, her arms crossed. "…Although I guess you have a better reason to lecture me."

"Damn right Ah do…" Applejack said, glancing back at the door where a couple of curious classmates were starting to follow them outside. "Look what you've done!"

"Sorry…" Rainbow Dash said, backing away. "Uh, so what do we do now?" She asked as a few students spotted her and started coming closer.

Applejack pulled her in the opposite direction. "Run."

…

"_Rainbow did what?" _Twilight asked, staring at Applejack from across the dining hall table in disbelief. "Does she know how serious this could be? …Wait, she isn't here, you don't mean to tell me that she went to her other classes?" Twilight groaned. Rarity and Pinkie Pie shared similarly shocked expressions.

Applejack shrugged. "She had a test, Ah couldn't force her tah skip that… Dunno how she'll manage without someone holdin' her back, but Ah think she's learned her lesson fer now at least."

"Whoa…" Pinkie Pie commented, her eyes wide. Like Applejack, Pinkie's hair was now entirely one colour: fittingly, pink. "I bet something like that will be all over campus in no time!" Twilight had to agree. The main disadvantage of a small campus was that gossip travelled fast. "What should we do?" Pinkie asked.

"I have no clue." Twilight admitted. "I guess just hope it sorts itself out…" She had a feeling it wouldn't. Even now she could see a few people glancing curiously over at their table, presumably looking for Rainbow Dash.

"Ah guess so…" Applejack agreed.

Twilight glanced over at Rarity, who was being oddly quiet. "What do you think, Rarity?"

Rarity poked pathetically at her tomato sandwich. "I don't know…" She grumbled. "I can't really think at the moment…"

Twilight looked at her questioningly. "Rarity has a headache." Pinkie piped up.

"Yes, and an absolutely awful one at that." Rarity elaborated, sinking down in her seat. "Must be all of the accounting homework getting to my head. I can never get the stupid sides to balance." She sighed dramatically. "I wish you guys were taking business with me, perhaps then I might understand…"

"Maybe I could help?" Twilight offered.

Rarity looked at her skeptically. "Twilight, darling, you're a science student. I wouldn't expect you to understand the complexities of accounting."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment. "Uh, alright then. If you're sure."

Rarity sighed again and rubbed her forehead. "You shant need to get yourself involved in my problems, though I appreciate the offer." She yawned. "Perhaps… perhaps I should take a nap…"

The three other girls exchanged worried looks. "Ya sure yer alright, sugercube?" Applejack asked.

Rarity looked up. "Hm? What was that? Oh, yes, I'm fine…" Rarity said with another yawn. "I really should be going." Rarity stood up, and Pinkie was quick to spring up after her. Twilight and Applejack shared another look before rising as well. Twilight was at least reassured that the day couldn't get much worse.

…

I think I just made a jab at my own major (accounting, though not officially since we can't declare until third year)… :P Well, whatever, what Rarity said is actually generally true. lol science. On a somewhat related note, Twilight's seemingly intense course load is a reference to some of my friends who are in engineering and want to kill themselves from work overload… I don't know anybody enrolled in astrophysics, but I'd imagine it's pretty intense too.

I think this was actually my second shortest chapter… but a lot of stuff happened, so that makes up for it maybe? I was actually worried about it being too long before I typed it out, so there you go.

Let's face it; Rainbow can be an idiot sometimes, but she has friends that aren't afraid to let her know when she's crossed the line. Also, I can't even count the number of times I've gone to class only to find out that the prof emailed us thirty minutes beforehand to cancel it. So annoying.

Read and review! This is my last chapter before work starts (yeah, I had almost two months off. It was awesome. lol)… I really doubt work will interfere with this at all, but we'll see.

Until Tuesday, you can go check out Alex Barkhorn's fic "My Little Pony: Torn Between Two Worlds" if you haven't done so yet and are looking for another great humanization. :D


	22. Chapter 22

Thanks to ganadoleader, kroeger562399, Hydrog3n Cyanide, y1fellas, Wing Zero 032, LaserLens4, Stunningfire, KiwiLytton, Jake-Everfree, DarkStratos, Alex Barkhorn, Pinkamena The Medic, MoneyMan538, rederci939, iPinkNinja, anon, Alex Leep, Sandstorm3D, and Endymion Blue for reviewing! You guys are so awesome.

I don't own MLP. Tis owned by Hasbro.

…

Twilight spent a bit of time studying before physics, and after her class she headed off with the others to Dining Hall. Rarity wasn't with them; Pinkie explained how the fashionista had been sleeping since they got back from lunch. Twilight thought it was a suspiciously familiar situation, so she was surprised that she herself felt absolutely fine.

It wasn't until all five of them were settled at their usual round table that they noticed how the other students were eying them curiously. The girls sat quietly, all of them listening nervously to the voices carrying from the tables surrounding them.

"Did you hear about what happened with that rainbow-haired girl this morning?"

"I heard they kept the third floor of Kismet house up all night on Tuesday!"

"Look at their hair; they all have weird names too. Must be some sort of cult."

Fluttershy whimpered and sunk lower in her chair, as if hoping to hide behind the table. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. She no longer bothered wearing sunglasses, which probably didn't do much to help them blend in. "Who do these people think they are? They don't even know us!" She growled, her eyes darting angrily around the room.

Applejack waved a fork in her direction. "Now you just simmer on down, Dash. Ya gotta work on controllin' that temper." She ordered.

"Yeah, yeah…" Rainbow said in a dismissive tone, but backed off nonetheless. Clearly, the memory of what had happened that morning was still fresh in her mind.

Twilight sighed. It was annoying, but in a way, their peers had a right to be suspicious. "We'll just have to ignore them." Twilight decided, keeping her voice appropriately low. "It's not like there's anything we can do about it. I mean, "hey, we're actually ponies from a magical world called Equestria" wouldn't be all that convincing. We'd get a one-way ticket to the mental ward."

Rainbow snorted in amusement. "Why not? That's how you told us."

"…That was different!" Twilight insisted, slightly embarrassed. The rest of her friends laughed.

"Twi's got a point, though." Applejack said. "But what if we're confronted?"

"Then we tell them the pony story?" Pinkie Pie asked hopefully.

Twilight quickly shook her head no. "I don't know. Just don't say anything that sounds… abnormal."

The others nodded slowly in agreement. It wasn't hard to see that they were starting to stand out big time, but Twilight could only hope that matters wouldn't get out of hand.

…

Twilight spent a bit of her evening doing review, but with some coaxing from Fluttershy and Spike, was convinced to take a small break and read one of the few fiction books she'd brought with her. It was during this time that Rainbow's second confrontation drifted in from the hallway, signaled by the squeak of an opening door and an annoyed groan from Rainbow Dash.

"What the hell do you want, Will?" Rainbow snapped, her tone alone enough to judge that she wasn't about to take any nonsense.

"Rainbow, listen, I heard about what happened today." Will's voice said in an almost anxious tone.

Twilight put her book down and glanced over at Fluttershy, who had similarly looked away from her biology textbook. Twilight was prepared to intervene if anything similar to Applejack's description of their morning happened again.

"Yeah?" Rainbow asked, her voice rising nervously in pitch. "So what?"

"I, well…" Will hesitated. "I'm really sorry about everything that happened."

There was a slight pause. "…You're what?" Rainbow asked, sounding surprised.

"I'm really sorry. Garrett's my friend, and he can be a bit of an idiot sometimes. But he was a total prick to you, and I'm sorry for going along with it. I haven't spoken with him since I heard about what he did in your gym class the other day. I'm still sort of shocked by it, and trust me; I'm not the only one."

"So, why are you telling me this?" Rainbow asked, her voice indicating that she didn't trust him.

"I felt guilty, I guess. I'm not angry with you at all, Rainbow, but I'd understand if you were mad at me." There was a brief silence, then Will hesitantly spoke up again. "Is it true that you have wings?"

"Heh. Maybe. But you aren't about to find out. It was cool of you to stop by, though." To Twilight's relief, Rainbow Dash shut her door without another word. After a few moments, they heard Will depart down the hallway.

"Well, that was weird…" Twilight commented. "He seemed genuine." Fluttershy nodded her agreement. Twilight wasn't sure that Rainbow Dash would trust him any longer, but she still felt it was a nice, if slightly overdue, gesture.

Around the time that the two girls had just started to get ready for bed, they were surprised by a series of rapid knocks at their door. Twilight hurried to open it, but nobody was there. She peered around the doorframe, and found Pinkie Pie. She was wearing magenta pajamas with white polka dots, and had moved onto knocking on Rainbow Dash's door.

"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked, immediately concerned by the anxious expression on Pinkie's face. "What's going on?"

Pinkie's head whipped around as soon as she heard her name. "Oh, there you are, Twilight! Gosh, you guys take so long to answer the door, I mean I was starting to think that you weren't home and - "

"Whoa, slow down." Twilight begged. Pinkie Pie had a tendency to talk even faster than she normally did when she was worked up. Fluttershy appeared hesitantly next to Twilight, and Rainbow Dash poked her head out of her own room as well.

"Okay, sorry!" Pinkie took a huge breath of air, then continued. "I'm just super worried about Rarity; too worried to worry alone!" She explained quickly.

"Rarity?" Spike suddenly appeared, and he hugged Twilight's leg nervously. "What happened to Rarity?"

"Probably the same thing that happened to these two the other night." Twilight guessed, glancing at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. "Right, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head vigorously, to everyone's surprise. "No, well, maybe kind of, but it's _different_! She won't wake up _at all_. She's been asleep for nearly ten hours… I was so worried that I tried to wake her up, and then she wouldn't wake up, which made me worry even more! And believe me, I know a lot of ways to wake people up, but nothing's worked." Pinkie finished sadly.

"Well, c'mon!" Spike insisted, pulling at Twilight's pant leg in the direction of Rarity and Pinkie's dorm room. "Let's go!" Twilight sighed and scooped the baby dragon into her arms. If she wasn't so alarmed herself, she probably would have stopped to get her duffel bag. Instead, she hid Spike as best she could with her body. She doubted he appreciated it, but fortunately the trip to the other end of the hallway only took them a couple of seconds.

When they entered, they found Applejack was already kneeling by Rarity's bed. Applejack glanced up as they entered, but Rarity remained motionless. Spike wriggled out of Twilight's grasp, and bounded on top of the bed.

The first thing that Twilight noticed was that Rarity had an ice pack balanced on the top of her head. "Does she have a fever?" She asked as she, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all joined Applejack at Rarity's bedside.

"Ah dunno…" Applejack said, reaching over to shift the ice pack. "But Ah do know she has a mighty bad bump on her head." As Applejack moved the ice pack out of the way, Twilight was glad that Rarity wasn't awake to see what was under it. She was sporting a large raised area in the dead center of her forehead. The skin around it was a bit red and irritated, but the center was pure white.

Pinkie Pie seemed to droop a bit. "I don't think the ice is working, Applejack. It looks even worse."

Suddenly, Rarity's forehead glowed with a dull golden light not unlike the one that Twilight had witnessed coming from Fluttershy's back the previous night. Rarity's eyes blinked open for a couple of seconds. She muttered something incoherent, then gave a weak moan and rolled over.

"Hey, Rarity!" Rainbow Dash called, but got no answer. Rarity was asleep again, and Twilight immediately noticed that what she had previously thought was a very white patch of skin had grown a tiny bit.

A sudden curiosity struck her, and Twilight reached over carefully and touched the spot on Rarity's forehead. It wasn't skin. It was hard, and despite being underneath an ice pack, strangely warm to the touch.

Spike watched Twilight with interest. "You know what that reminds me of?" Spike spoke up, though Twilight was already making guesses of her own.

"A unicorn horn?" She asked. Spike nodded, to the amazement of everyone else in the room.

A sudden knock at the door startled everybody. Twilight did a quick head count; everyone was present.

The knock came again. "It's Marilyn, your RA." The voice from the other side informed them. "I'm coming in, okay?"

"W-wait!" Twilight said, though it was too late. Applejack hastily tossed the ice pack back onto Rarity's head and Spike darted underneath the bed moments before their RA let herself inside.

Marilyn brushed her red hair away from her face, and looked quizzically at Rarity. Twilight realized it was quite a weird scene to have barged into.

"She's kind of a little bit sick." Pinkie supplied helpfully. Rarity gave another pathetic moan and rolled over.

"Um, well, that's not why I came over here," Marilyn said carefully, looking at Rarity. "But do you need a lift to the hospital or something?"

"Oh, no, of course not." Twilight said, flashing what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Just a bit, uh, under the weather…"

Marilyn looked reluctantly away from Rarity, and looked at the other five girls. "Listen, I hate to bring this up, but there's been a bit of commotion about you six recently." All five of them shifted uncomfortably. Marilyn sighed. "A certain few students have even asked me to look into it, but I don't believe there's a lot of reason for me to do that. I would appreciate knowing what's going on, but I'm not going to press you for answers."

Twilight slowly nodded. "Thank you." She left it at that, which she knew was probably frustrating for their RA, but she didn't care too much about that at the moment.

Marilyn headed towards the exit. "Just know that you guys can tell me anything. I look after third floor, and everyone in it." She smiled. "Tell Rarity to feel better soon." The girls waved goodbye, and all breathed huge sighs of relief when she had departed.

The girls remained beside Rarity for a little while, but seeing as she was much further out of it than both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were, she was also much quieter. Eventually, Pinkie had calmed enough that Twilight felt okay leaving her so that she could go get sleep of her own.

Twilight had to literally pull Spike off of Rarity ("No, I'll stay by her until the bitter end! ...Ugh, Twilight!"), then she and Fluttershy headed back.

Twilight had a bit of trouble falling asleep that night. Mostly, she was worried about Rarity, and frightening thoughts about getting her own horn were impossible to ignore. But now she had to deal with some sort of stigma that they were developing around campus? It was a lot to handle. She much preferred just worrying over her GPA.

…

I'm really tired, sorry it's a tad short. Again.

I never had much of a relationship with my RA… I actually had more of one with my friends' RA. But I know generally RAs are supposed to at least attempt to make friends with their floor. Especially ones that seem a bit like outcasts. Ha.

Oh yeah, my first day of working at the local amusement park was today. And what do I get put on? The freaking carousel! Ponies at all times of day. Most of the horses were coloured like normal horses… except for _one,_ who I'm not kidding you is light pink with a poofy dark pink mane. I even heard a little boy say "I wanna ride Pinkie Pie!" …I love my job already. (Plus the machine plays Yankee Doodle over and over. Guess what I associate that with. Yeah. LOL)

I'll try my best to get a chapter out for Friday, but I really do need to adjust my sleeping schedule… heh. Also, I'm sort of going away on vacation next Tuesday for ten days. I'll have my laptop with me, but I dunno about updates. We'll see. It'll all work out, don't worry.

Mind dropping me a review? Thank you so much for reading. :D


	23. Chapter 23

Thanks to Jake-Everfree, ganadoleader, Alex Barkhorn, Anime, Wing Zero 032, Stunningfire, KiwiLytton, Piks3l, Alex Leep, Endymion Blue, MoneyMan538, y1fellas, disney-hp-freak, juter4397, Hydrog3n Cyanide, LaserLens4, Pinkamena The Medic, and rederci939 for their reviews! Special thanks to Scarlet Rabbit for leaving me reviews to all 22 chapters in the span of two days! You are all awesome and I love you all.

Sorry I didn't update on Friday. I stared at my screen for three hours and nothing would come out of me. I tried to make this one a tad longer to make up for it.

I clearly don't own MLP.

…

The next morning, Twilight bustled around as she tried to get herself ready for psychology and calculus. Fluttershy did the same, though she kept eying Twilight worriedly. Twilight understood why.

"Fluttershy, I feel completely normal. No horn." Twilight firmly reassured. Fluttershy nodded meekly and looked away, hiding behind her now almost completely light-pink hair.

Spike took advantage of Twilight's currently vacant bed, and stretched himself across it. "Thank Celestia it's Friday, right guys?"

Twilight grinned. "A small break is always nice, I guess." She admitted. Fluttershy smiled in agreement.

Spike rolled himself onto his stomach and looked longingly towards the door. "I wonder how Rarity's doing…" He sadly wondered out loud.

"I'm sure she's doing fine, Spike." Twilight said. She did trust the princess, though she hadn't heard from her in a couple of days. She made a mental note to write a letter later in the day.

Spike sighed. "I guess so." His purple tail twitched absently, and he let out a small stream of frustrated smoke from his nostrils.

Twilight recoiled backwards and glared at the baby dragon. "Spike, don't do that. I swear you're going to catch the place on fire."

"Sorry…" Spike mumbled, and curled himself onto Twilight's pillow so that his back was facing her. Twilight didn't have time to deal with his moodiness over Rarity, so she departed for breakfast, and Fluttershy followed closely behind.

…

Rarity wasn't at breakfast with them. Twilight had to admit, it was a bit odd not having the fashionista around.

"She's asleep still." Pinkie explained glumly. "But she has a horn, just like you said, Twilight! A white one!" Pinkie smiled. "Just like a unicorn!"

"I wonder if she can do magic like a unicorn, too…" Twilight mused. Magic was something that she never thought she would ever even consider to be real. She'd probably still be skeptical if not for the fork incident a few days ago.

Applejack chuckled. "Ah bet Rarity won't be likin' the change too much."

"You can say that again." Rainbow Dash agreed with a smirk. "I can already picture her complaining about how it doesn't match any of the mountains of clothes she brought with her." She added with an eye roll. "As if that's the most of her problems."

For once, Twilight had to agree that Rainbow had a point. Wings were easy enough to conceal under clothing, but horns seemed downright impossible. With the rumours Rainbow's outburst had gathered, it was imperative that they keep as low key as possible. Twilight hoped that Rarity would be able to figure out a solution, because she wasn't coming up with anything.

…

Twilight was more than relieved to find out that she hadn't missed anything at all in psychology. However, when she separated from the others after class, she began to get a bit nervous for calculus. After all, she didn't have Rarity beside her today.

Twilight entered hoping to hide herself among her classmates, but since it was a Friday, it seemed a good number of them had skipped the lecture. She took a reluctant seat near the back, and it wasn't long afterwards that Kyle settled himself beside her. Twilight had a feeling he'd planned it out.

"Hey you!" Kyle said with a playful smile. Twilight glanced in his direction and gave a half-hearted smile in return, then pretended to be interested in the notes Professor Kobson was scribbling on the board in preparation for class. Kyle didn't seem to be deterred. "I haven't seen you in a while," He commented. "I didn't think you were the type to skip classes."

Twilight frowned. "It wasn't on purpose. My friend turned my alarm off, so I slept through it." She tried to make herself look busy by copying notes off of the board.

Kyle looked thoughtful. "Your roommate? I forget her name. She seemed very quiet."

Twilight shook her head. "No, not Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash." It was an automatic correction on Twilight's part, and she realized a few moments late that it probably wasn't the best idea to bring Rainbow's name up.

"Rainbow Dash?" Kyle asked. A few curious classmates glanced backwards at them, and Twilight internally cursed herself. "The girl that everyone's saying has wings?"

Twilight looked anxiously around at all of the faces that were shamelessly watching. "O-oh, yeah, that's just a stupid rumour." Twilight said, praying that she sounded genuine. Lying was hardly a strongpoint of hers. "Humans can't fly!"

"I saw pictures on Facebook!" A girl seated in front of Twilight exclaimed. "It's more than a rumour!"

Twilight hesitated. "Oh, well, you don't really believe that, do you?" Twilight asked, thinking quickly. "Totally photoshopped, anybody could see that… Now, I'd appreciate it if you would all stop spreading these lies. It's really starting to get on my nerves." Her last statement was true, which was probably what caused all of her classmates to flinch and apologetically turn away from her, though it didn't stop them from whispering their opinions to each other immediately afterwards. Twilight sighed and tried to focus back on her notes.

"I don't care about all of those rumours." Kyle said, causing Twilight to glance up from her notes.

"Uh, okay…" Twilight said, not really sure where he was going with this.

"You're still really smart and beautiful and - "

"Okay," Twilight interrupted, finally hearing enough. "That's nice of you, but I'm not interested. At all." She said firmly.

To her surprise, he laughed. "Well, duh." Kyle said with an eyeroll. "Any idiot could see that. But I might as well keep trying, right?"

Twilight stared at him incredulously. "You… what?"

"You'll warm up to me eventually." He said with a wink.

Twilight groaned and turned to listen to the lecture, which was fortunately just starting. Twilight was at least grateful for another reason to want to go to Equestria.

…

Partially out of boredom and partially out of a desperate need for answers, Twilight exited her calculus classroom in a different direction than usual, and headed towards the library.

Once Twilight had entered, she went immediately to the area that the princess had directed her to before. She sifted through the bookshelf where she had previously retrieved the children's book on Equestria's history, but wasn't finding a whole lot. Several old books seemed to describe magic spells, and though Twilight was curious, she decided it was probably best not to meddle in things that could be dangerous.

The title of one large blue book, _Predictions and Prophesies_, caught her eye, and she carefully pulled it out of its spot. She settled herself into a chair, and opened it up. It was organized similarly to an encyclopedia, and Twilight flicked the pages until she came to the letter "E".

'_Elements of Harmony', _Twilight read, and her heart jumped for a moment before sinking as she realized there was barely anything written except for one line saying, '_see Mare in the Moon'._

Twilight turned to the "M" section, and scanned the page until she came across the correct article: _'The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal.'_

Twilight read over the line several times, and although she could connect it fairly easily to the old book she'd read previously, she still was no better along in understanding where she fit into all of this. With a defeated sigh, she put the book away and headed back to Kismet.

…

Twilight had barely reached third floor when Pinkie Pie zoomed in front of her. "Twilight! Oh good, you're back!" She exclaimed with a huge grin.

Twilight took a few startled steps backwards, one hand over her pounding heart. "Pinkie, don't do that! What's gotten you so excited, anyways?"

"Rarity's awake!" Pinkie Pie said happily. "Come with me!" Before Twilight could comment, Pinkie had grabbed her arm and started dragging her to her dorm room.

The two girls entered, and Twilight realized that all of her other friends were already there. Rarity was sitting on her bed in the middle of it all, looking a bit flustered and with a large white unicorn horn in the center of her forehead, but otherwise unharmed.

"Oh, hey Twilight!" Rainbow Dash greeted. She was wearing a navy blue baseball cap backwards over her now almost entirely rainbow hair. "Hey, check this out!" She announced, then grabbed the hat off of her head, and threw it frisbee-style in Rarity's direction.

Rarity looked very unimpressed as the hat's plastic adjuster caught on her horn and spun the hat several times until it settled backwards on her head as well. The other girls chuckled as Rarity removed the hat with a frustrated sigh. "That's not funny, Rainbow Dash!" She exclaimed, tossing the navy hat back to Rainbow, who put it back onto her own head with a satisfied smirk. Rarity glared at them. "What on earth am I supposed to do about this?" She groaned dramatically and prodded her horn in disgust. "I simply cannot go out in public anymore… oh, this is just _terrible!"_ She exclaimed, and flopped pathetically onto her side. After a few moments of nobody responding, she gave Twilight a look out of the corner of her eye. "…I was rather hoping you might have an idea, Twilight."

Twilight smiled sadly. "I don't know what to tell you, Rarity." She admitted, to Rarity's disappointment.

"Aw, Rarity," Applejack said with a grin. "It's not all bad. Yer real creative, Ah know y'all will think ah somethin'." She said with a supportive smile.

"Yeah, Rarity!" Pinkie Pie smiled, bouncing happily on her own bed. "I just know you'll think of something!" She agreed.

Fluttershy gave a nervous smile as well. "Maybe you could sew something?" She suggested timidly, as though expecting her opinion to be immediately turned away. Quite to the contrary, Rarity perked up.

"Yes, that's an excellent idea, Fluttershy… Perhaps… hmm…" Rarity stood quickly and headed to her closet, where she dug around for a while until she reappeared with a large sunhat. "It's a tad impractical…" Rarity admitted. "But if I can fix this up just the right way… it'll be large enough to hide this ugly thing," she pointed to her horn, "_and _it won't be absolutely hideous itself!"

"That's great, Rarity!" Twilight praised. The others were quick to agree.

"Yes, yes…" Rarity said as she dug around for a sheet of paper. "Though, this will take me a little while… I should be finished by tomorrow, but in the meantime, I absolutely refuse to go outside." She said, sounding disgusted just at the thought of leaving her bedroom in her state. "…You'll have to bring me dinner, Pinkie."

Pinkie giggled. "Okie dokie!" She happily complied.

…

After a fortunately uneventful supper, the five girls started heading back to Kismet. Pinkie's arms were absolutely laden with food (mostly desserts, though she was thoughtful enough to provide Rarity with some other selections as well), and Twilight was surprised that she was able to carry everything with no problem.

As they came closer and closer to Kismet, a dull beeping noise gradually became louder and louder. Twilight thought that she was hearing things at first, but it soon became clear to all of them that it was a fire alarm.

"Oh no…" Twilight gasped, and all five of them rushed the remaining distance to their residence building, where several students were hovering outdoors. "Spike…" Twilight said, looking upwards to the third floor desperately, where smoke was flowing out of the center window. "Spike must have caught something on fire!" Twilight's heart pounded anxiously. She blamed herself; if only she'd taken the time to fireproof everything! He could be seriously injured, and it would be entirely her fault.

"Hm… Where's Rarity?" Applejack asked. The other four looked around quickly, but couldn't see her anywhere.

"What if she's still inside?" Fluttershy whimpered, her eyes darting around the scene nervously.

Twilight suddenly broke away from the group and desperately attempted to push her way into the building. She was stopped by several surprised RAs and campus security guards, and reluctantly made her way back to the others. She was terrified, and the small tears that were forming in her eyes were a dead giveaway of it.

Applejack gently tried to comfort both Twilight and Fluttershy, while Rainbow shifted in agitation. "I'm gonna go see if Rarity's okay." She announced. "Nobody will see; Rarity's window is facing the back." Despite her better judgement, Twilight nodded a little to show she agreed, and Dash took off around the back.

Pinkie Pie could barely see over the pile of food that was still in her arms, but she too was looking a bit disturbed. All Twilight could think about was how Spike was trapped with no way out, and it was only for that reason that she turned desperately to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy," Twilight said, her voice shaking with fear. "You… you have to go help Spike!" Twilight explained quickly. "You have to fly!"

Fluttershy hesitated at the look on Twilight's face. "I-I can't…" She said quietly, shifting uncomfortably as she looked at the hordes of people around them.

"Please?" Twilight begged. "What if - "

"Shh, sugercube…" Applejack said, gently brushing Twilight's hair away from her face. "Spike'll be fine. Rainbow's up there." It was true, but Rainbow Dash had no way into their room. Applejack continued to calm her until the RA team gave the all-clear for the building.

Surprised but relieved, Twilight rushed upstairs. It was still a tad smoky, and it smelled a bit like… burnt popcorn?

Twilight threw open her door, and upon seeing Spike looking perfectly fine, ran over and hugged him.

"H-hey!" Spike protested, squirming from under her grasp. "What are you doing? What's wrong?"

"I was so worried you'd burned the place down…" Twilight admitted, sheepishly putting the baby dragon back on the ground.

Spike crossed his arms indignantly. "What? Me?" He asked, sounding offended. "I'm really careful with my fire, Twilight! Besides, I heard the entire thing from in here. Some moron burned popcorn in the lounge, and it caught the, uh, thing that he used to make popcorn with on fire." Spike explained.

Twilight paused for a few moments as Fluttershy walked in. She too smiled in relief that Spike was okay, though didn't attack the dragon with affection like Twilight had. "Twilight," Fluttershy said slowly. "Apparently somebody caught the microwave on fire…."

Twilight nodded slowly. She was partially relieved… and partially really embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Spike." Twilight said with a sigh. "I should have put more trust in you…"

Spike waved her away. "No worries." He insisted.

Twilight smiled back at him. "Thanks, Spike… Now, do you think I could write a letter to the princess?" Spike saluted her, then scrambled to gather the materials.

…

We had about six fire alarms go off in my residence building over the last year. All of them were popcorn related. And of the twenty lounges in my building, three of them were in my lounge because my neighbours were idiots. One of them actually did catch the microwave on fire, which completely destroyed the microwave and made my room smell like smoke for days (fortunately I was in class during this incident)… so yes, it is possible.

And if you think guys like Kyle don't exist, you are so, so sadly wrong. He's based partially off of a few guys I know… ugh.

Work is great, though I don't work on the carousel anymore. I think they reserve it for more incompetent employees since it's insanely easy, lol. So I get to run about half of the other rides. Mostly with little tiny kids. It's fun (so far)!

I'm getting on an airplane in like… five hours. I have to leave in three. lol. I'm gonna take a short nap, then sleep on the plane.

I may update, I may not. I'll probably get at least one chapter in while I'm away, though!

Read and review? Thank you so much.


	24. Chapter 24

Thanks to Music-girls-wings, Wing Zero 032, juter4397, Alex Barkhorn, ReverseSceptile, Slidz, Scarlet Rabbit, Jake-Everfree, Pikmin3411, ganadoleader, Alex Leep, REDgirl2723, KiwiLytton, Hydrog3n Cyanide, MoneyMan538, Stunningfire, rederci939, Sandstorm3D, Guest, Ms. Rookroll, Pinkamena The Medic, and Guest for their reviews!

Sorry for skipping two updates. And sorry that this one was late! I think this is the first time I've actually updated during the day… but it's still Friday so ha. I was on vacation and all. Just got back at midnight last night.

Thanks to Jake-Everfree for pointing out my (actually sort of hilarious) typo ("The thousandth day of the longest year"… wait what), which is now fixed. :P

I don't own MLP!

…

"Okay," Twilight said, watching as Spike held a pen above a sheet of paper dutifully. "I need you to ask the princess about a couple of things. First off - "

A knock at the door interrupted her, and Twilight looked over in time to see Rainbow Dash let herself in. "Hey Twilight, Fluttershy." She greeted. "And Spike of course. You still alive, little guy?" She teased, going to sit beside him.

"Of course I am." Spike said proudly. "Twilight over there is just being paranoid as always." He said, pointing a clawed finger over to said girl.

Twilight shot him a glare, but decided not to comment. Instead, she looked towards Rainbow. "Is Rarity okay?" She asked, still feeling the need to make sure despite finding out her worries were unnecessary.

Rainbow Dash waved her question away. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. Complained a bit that I didn't bring any food with me through the window." She rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie will have more than solved that problem by now." Twilight nodded in relief, and Rainbow continued on. "So, what are you guys doing tonight?"

Twilight shrugged, only then remembering that it was a Friday. "Dunno. I don't really feel like doing much, to be honest." Fluttershy nodded her agreement. "What about you?"

"I was kinda thinking of hanging out with Will." Rainbow admitted.

Twilight glanced up, surprised. "Really?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fluttershy added quietly.

Rainbow nodded slowly. "I think so. I think he's a lot different without Garrett around. We'll see."

Spike suddenly cleared his throat and waved the pen in his hand around. Twilight looked over, realizing what she'd forgotten. "Oh, right!" She exclaimed. "Sorry Spike, we got a bit off track."

"Are you writing a letter to Princess Celestia?" Rainbow asked excitedly. Twilight nodded the affirmative. "Oh man, that is _so cool._ Can I ask her something?"

Twilight laughed at her enthusiasm. "Sure, I guess so!"

Spike raised his pen into the air. "Ready when you are!"

"Okay, uhh…" Rainbow stalled, thinking for a few seconds. "Do you think you could ask how my dad's doing? Like, my Equestria pony dad?"

"Your dad?" Twilight questioned the specificity.

Rainbow Dash nodded, smiling a little. "I see him in my dreams a lot, but I didn't realize that's who it was until you explained the whole pony thing, Twilight. Dunno about my mom though… I kind of think maybe she isn't around anymore, y'know?" Rainbow shrugged off the sympathetic looks from her friends. "It's cool. I mean, I thought I didn't have any parents at all until a couple of days ago. Having one is awesome." Spike scribbled down something on the sheet of paper. "Oh yeah!" Rainbow hurried to add. "And when are we going to Equestria anyways? It had better be soon, 'cause I'm tired of people staring at me." She huffed. "Or at least she could make them magically forget what happened or something. She's magic, she can do that right?"

"I have no idea, but I guess it makes sense." Twilight admitted as Spike finished writing Rainbow's contribution down. "Anyways, Spike," Twilight continued, and the little purple dragon turned to her expectantly. "I only really want to know one thing… How many years has it been since Nightmare Moon was imprisoned in the… well, the moon?" Twilight asked, and Spike peeked skeptically over the page.

"Twilight." He groaned. "That's just an old mare's tale. Nopony believes in that stuff except little foals!"

Twilight shook her head. "No, I know this is important." In fact, if the princess's answer to her question was anywhere close to one thousand years, she had an unfortunate idea of what was to come. "There's truth in legends, Spike. And I think there's a lot of truth to this one; why else would she have lent me those books?" Spike rolled his eyes, but complied with her request anyways.

Rainbow suddenly jumped to her feet and stretched lightly. "Anyways, I'm gonna head off. Maybe you two should go visit Rarity and Pinkie Pie; they love having people over. Thanks for letting me talk to the princess and all!"

The four of them said their goodbyes, then Rainbow departed. "You know…" Twilight said, looking over to Fluttershy. "Maybe we _should_ go visit Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Rarity's sort of stuck there, after all." She pointed out. "You want to come too, Spike?"

"Heck yeah!" Spike cheered, and rushed to the door. Twilight laughed softly and pointed to the duffle bag lying on the floor. Spike gave an annoyed sigh, but hopped into in anyways.

"Actually, Twilight…" Fluttershy said meekly, her eyes looking apologetic. "I think I might stay here. I'm a little tired after all that happened today."

Twilight, who had just gotten up to head to the door, hesitated. "Oh." She said, turning back towards Fluttershy. "Well, that's understandable. Do you mind if we go down the hall?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, not at all, Twilight." She smiled. "I'll probably just go to sleep."

Twilight picked up the duffle bag, where Spike was waving to Fluttershy out of the top of it. "See ya!" He said as Twilight tried to poke him back into the bag.

Just as Twilight turned the handle to leave, she thought of something. "Hey, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, turning around to where Fluttershy was now waiting for her to continue. "I was sort of wondering after what Rainbow said today… Do you dream of your Equestrian parents too?"

Fluttershy froze, and for a moment, Twilight regretted asking for fear that it had brought up bad memories. After a few seconds, however, Fluttershy answered. "In a way… yes." She broke into a smile. "And they're the kindest, most generous people – or, um, ponies – I know."

Twilight smiled back. "I'm glad. You deserve to have them back in your life after all you've been through."

"Thanks, Twilight." Fluttershy said, blushing and looking shyly down at Twilight's words. "I really can't wait to see them."

…

Twilight knocked on Pinkie and Rarity's door a few times, and didn't have to wait more than half a second before a beaming Pinkie Pie opened the door. "Twilight!" She cheered. "Ooh, and you brought Spike! Come on in! I didn't know you were coming, but that's okay because you can help yourself to Rarity's supper!" She gestured to a table that was loaded with things like cupcakes, squares, and cookies.

Spike popped out of the duffle bag and scrambled over to the table. "Will do!" He announced, then happily dug in.

"…We have all of that at Dining Hall?" Twilight asked, staring at the assortment.

"Apparently." Rarity answered. She was at her desk in front of a sewing machine, fixing up the hat she had mentioned earlier. "Honestly though, there's only so much sugar one can eat at a time, Pinkie." Rarity said, not looking up as she gently started to lead the fabric through the machine's moving needle.

Pinkie Pie only giggled at the comment. "You're so funny, Rarity!" She flipped a chocolate-chip cookie into the air, and somehow caught and ate the entire thing in one bite. "Mnnt Mmom?" Pinkie asked Twilight with her mouth still full, pointing again to the desserts.

Twilight shook her head. "No thanks, Pinkie. You go ahead, though."

Pinkie finally swallowed and grinned at Twilight. "Okay!" She agreed, going right back to the table.

A knock at the door caused Twilight to open it. "Hey, Applejack!" Twilight greeted upon seeing her friend.

"Hey, Twi." Applejack grinned. "Ah thought Ah heard yer voice." Twilight moved away to let her come inside, and Applejack chuckled at the sight of the other two of her friends. "Doesn't get much more typical Pinkie or typical Rarity." She commented, and settled herself on top of Pinkie Pie's bed. "How's that giant hat of yers comin' along, Rarity?" Applejack asked as Twilight sat across from her on Rarity's bed.

Rarity sighed. "Fine. I guess." She picked up a measuring tape from her desk, and tried to squint upwards as she measured her own horn. "This thing is nothing more than a nuisance." She said in frustration.

"It's a lot more than that, Rarity!" Spike argued, finally hopping away from the table filled with desserts and onto the desk where Rarity was working. "After all, a unicorn's magic is amplified through their horn. It lets you do all kinds of cool tricks!"

Rarity raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Magic? Honestly, Spike, I've heard a lot of crazy things this week, but magic?"

"It's true." Twilight said, causing the whole room to look over at her. "I've already tried it… well, accidentally."

"You've done magic?" Pinkie gasped. "Omigosh, can you show us? Can you pull a rabbit out of Rarity's giant hat? I mean, it doesn't have to be a rabbit, it could be anything you want - "

"Pinkie!" Twilight shook her head. "I don't think I can repeat it. Do guys remember the other day when I dropped that fork?" Three heads slowly nodded, starting to understand. "Yeah. I don't want to do that again."

"Magic would be pretty hard for a unicorn to do without a horn." Spike commented. "It's cool that you could do magic at all without one! The princess _did _say that you had really powerful magic." He turned back to Rarity. "But you could do it easily, Rarity!" He added, looking at her hopefully.

Rarity shook her head and turned back to her sewing machine. "Perhaps later, Spike. I'd rather concentrate on my work for now."

Spike looked saddened for a moment, but perked up fairly quickly. "Maybe I could help you work?" He suggested. "Anything I can do?"

"Oh, I don't really need any help…" Rarity finally looked over at Spike, and hesitated at his sad, defeated expression. "Er, well, I mean…" She quickly continued. "I think Pinkie might have borrowed my scissors. Do you think you could go check her desk for me?"

Spike happily bounded off of the desk and onto Pinkie Pie's. "You can count on me, Rarity!" He said importantly. The others giggled at his enthusiasm, but he was undeterred. "Found them!" He said, holding the scissors in the air triumphantly. Suddenly, he hesitated, then belched out a series of familiar green flames.

"Gah!" Applejack flinched and ducked out of the way, but Twilight hurried over to catch the scroll out of midair.

"It must be the reply from the princess!" Twilight exclaimed as she started unfolding the letter. "Too bad Rainbow isn't here… Oh well, I'll tell her what it says later." She decided, then began reading the letter out loud:

"_First of all, to Rainbow Dash:_

_Even I have my limits, and unfortunately it's extremely important for me to focus my magic on getting you all here in a timely matter. To all of you - try your best to stay out of trouble. It won't be long before I will see you all again for the first time in many years._

_Rainbow Dash, I'm certain your father will appreciate your company after all of these years. It was very hard for me to take you from him… _

_And to my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:_

_I admire your thirst for knowledge, but the answer you seek can be found right in front of you. Most likely, literally right in front of you; Spike was sent to you for more than just sending letters back and forth._

_I hope to see you shortly,_

_Princess Celestia_

…Okay, hold on a second." Twilight said, looking up to where Spike was indeed directly in front of her. "You knew how long Nightmare Moon was imprisoned in the moon for, and you didn't bother telling me when I was telling you to ask the princess?" Twilight asked in disbelief.

Spike stared at her. "Uh, no, I don't have any idea." He said, scratching his head. "At least, I don't think I do…"

"Hmm…" Twilight thought for a few moments, trying to recall the exact words from the book. "The longest day of the thousandth year. Does that ring any bells?"

Spike's eyes widened slowly. "Oh, I guess I did know." Twilight glared at him, and he sheepishly continued. "Every year, we hold the Summer Sun Celebration to celebrate the longest day of the year. Princess Celestia raises the sun in a huge public display!" He waved his small arms upwards for emphasis. "It's really cool, I've seen it every year since I hatched. Anyways, this year is gonna be the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration… in other words, the longest day of the thousandth year."

Twilight nodded slowly, realizing what this meant. "So, Nightmare Moon is going to return this year." Her worried expression caught onto her friends, who watched her uncertainly. "At least we have time… it's only September. The Summer Sun Celebration is obviously held in summer, right Spike?"

"Actually…" Spike said. "It's summer in Equestria right now. Judging by when I left…" He thought for a few seconds. "The Summer Sun Celebration is in a couple of days."

"W-what?" Twilight gasped. "Is the princess aware of this? Spike, I need you to take…" She broke off, a sudden sharp pain in her forehead distracting her. She rubbed the area with one hand, and continued. "I need you to take a letter… right…" She trailed off, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy.

"Twi?" Applejack asked, sharing a concerned expression with the others. "You okay?"

Twilight shakily rose to her feet. "I-I think I'm gonna go back to my room." She decided quickly, as the pain in her head became worse. She took a few confused steps towards the door, suddenly not sure of what she was doing. "Where…" She weakly tried to ask. Three pairs of arms were trying to stabilize her. The room was spinning, and the pain was becoming unbearable. A flash of golden light and a cry of pain, then complete darkness.

…

Something something giant hats…

Hm? Oh, uh, I don't have a lot to say about this chapter. Since I've been kinda lazy with the updates, I decided to plan this one out so that a chapter I've been looking forward to writing will happen next. That should be enough to motivate me.

Hope you've enjoyed. Read and review!


	25. Chapter 25

Thanks to Music-girls-wings, BekasaurusRex, Jake-Everfree, BlackShock95, Guest, .568, MoneyMan538, Wing Zero 032, Alex Leep, LaserLens4, rederci939, Guest, Hubord68, Ms. Rookroll, Guest (lots of guests this chapter! LOL), juter4397, and Scarlet Rabbit for their reviews!

Thanks to y1fellas for his contribution to the scene with Marilyn! :D

This chapter is very italic-y. Sorry about that.

I don't own MLP.

…

"_The thousandth Summer Sun Celebration? That's so far away... you… you will send her back to us, won't you?" _

_The voice echoed around Twilight's head. Her mind's eye still couldn't see past the darkness, and the root of the voice was difficult to pinpoint. It was familiar, but…_

"_You have my word. She will be safe." Princess Celestia. Twilight recognized this particular voice immediately._

"_Is there some sort of significance to that date?"_

"_There is." The princess continued. "But I cannot discuss it in great detail. This must be something Twilight and the others find out on their own."_

"_She's so young! With all due respect, I don't think - "_

"_You'd be surprised what a young mind can absorb, Mr. Sparkle." At Princess Celestia's final words, it suddenly clicked; that was the voice of Twilight's father. _

"_Your highness," Her mother. It was her mother. "I know this sounds a bit far-fetched… but for her age she's, well, already showing magical talent. Will this…?"_

"_I can sense her power as well… but I'll have to drain it when I send her away. The world she'll be living in has no magic of the traditional sense."_

"_Oh, Twilight…" Twilight felt a warmth on the side of her face, as if somebody was gently touching her._

"_Mommy?" Twilight realized with a surprised jolt that it was her own voice coming from somewhere else. Higher pitched and not so sure on articulation yet, but there it was echoing loudly around her._

"_Twilight, I'm so sorry… We love you so much…" More warmth, this time on the opposite side of her face, and mixed with what felt like water._

"_Daddy?"_

...

Fluttershy had awoken from her sleep to several loud knocks and anxious calls for her to unlock the door. Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to get Twilight back into her own bed, where she now lay unmoving. Spike sat worriedly by her head, where bursts of golden light occasionally overtook her.

"It's happening so fast…" Pinkie Pie commented as she knelt with the others around Twilight. "I mean, the rest of us were kind of out of it for a while before we were _totally _out of it, but Twilight skipped the "kind of" part!"

"D'ya think that means anythin'?" Applejack asked. She'd removed her hat, and was fiddling with it anxiously.

"I presume it means she has a lot of magic." Rarity commented, sounding as if she thought this was obvious information.

"I just hope she's okay…" Fluttershy mumbled, her eyes wide and frightened.

There was a couple of steady knocks at the door, and the group glanced over. All of them, including Spike, were expecting Rainbow Dash, so they were more than surprised when instead Marilyn walked calmly into their room.

There was a brief silence in which nothing happened, then Spike tried to hide himself underneath Twilight's covers.

"I-it's okay…" Marilyn said, her eyes darting from Spike, to Twilight, to the rest of the rather surprised girls. "I'm sorry to barge in like that, but I know about your, erm, talking lizard."

Spike popped his head back out from the covers, and glared at her. "_Dragon._" He corrected irritably.

"But… how?" Applejack asked, bewildered.

Pinkie gasped loudly in realization, causing the others to turn to her in surprise. "Wait! Wait! I've seen this before!" She said, pointing at Marilyn. "Have you ever dreamt of a world filled with super colourful ponies?" She asked accusingly.

"Pinkie…" Rarity groaned.

Marilyn looked confused. "Uh, no, can't say I've had a dream like that…?" She said, clearly wondering about the roots of the question.

"Oh, whoops." Pinkie said, giggling. "But then, how come you knew about Spike?"

Marilyn smiled and shook her head in amusement. "I know you were trying to be very secretive about all of this, but honestly, everything just kind of started adding up. I could hear an odd voice coming from this room, there's been reports of green flames coming out of this window, and seriously… the whole leaving the dufflebag in the bathroom thing was getting sort of suspicious on its own." She laughed. "Not to mention the rumours I keep hearing about all of you. But I never actually saw him," She looked at Spike with a fascinated expression. "Until today, when the fire alarm went off. RAs are required to check their entire floor to make sure everyone's evacuated. I don't think he even noticed me open the door."

"Well," Pinkie Pie said, smiling at her. "Might as well introduce you, then. This is Spike!" She pointed to the little purple dragon, who waved in greeting.

Marilyn waved back, looking amazed. "Nice to meet you, Spike."

"You... you won't tell anyone, will you?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

Marilyn shook her head. "No, I won't. But I do want to know what's going on." She looked pointedly at Twilight's still form. "Can you tell me that?"

After a moment's hesitation, the four girls collectively nodded.

…

_Out of nowhere, a beautiful blue sky appeared. Amazingly, Twilight found herself looking at a giant floating cloud of a city. Houses and businesses filled the area like any other urban municipality, but what made it stand out to Twilight was the masses of colourful winged ponies that filled in the extra area._

_Cloudsdale: Twilight recalled Spike mentioning it several times. Even Fluttershy had mentioned a city on top of a cloud. This had to be it._

"_Rainbow Dash!"_

_Twilight's vision shifted rather rapidly, and almost seemed to focus in on the area below her, giving her the sensation that she was watching through a camera. A cobalt-blue stallion with a jet-black mane was desperately chasing after something that was tiny, cyan blue, and had a shock of rainbow flowing through both her mane and tail. Even in filly form, Twilight could recognize Rainbow Dash immediately._

"_Rainbow Dash, I'm warning you, you'd better listen to your father and stop running this instant!" The blue stallion warned, though his tone was clearly not serious. _

_Rainbow seemed to sense that her dad was playing with her, and buzzed her tiny cyan wings daringly. Several pegasi had to move out of her way as she carelessly ran through the town._

"_Dash, you're too small to fly!" The stallion repeated, though again his tone lacked any indication of seriousness. "Get back here right now young mare, or I'll have to tickle you into the next world!"_

_Rainbow Dash emitted a childlike squeal of glee mixed with terror, and jumped into the air. She strained her little wings to carry her a short distance upwards before it was clear that the effort was too much for her, and she plummeted back to the cloudy ground._

_With a burst of air, the cobalt stallion propelled himself forward with his much more powerful wings, and managed to catch Rainbow before she hit the ground. "A-are you okay?" He asked, looking shocked. Rainbow giggled in delight as a response._

"_Stormcloud!" _

_The cobalt pony whipped around to see a red stallion land beside him. "Oh, hey Thunderstrike." The blue pegasus grinned as he put Rainbow back on the ground. "Rainbow Dash here just lasted a couple of seconds in the air. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself." _

_Thunderstrike rolled his eyes. "Seriously Stormcloud, you need to keep a firmer hold on her. It's dangerous for a foal that young to be running around a city that's situated several hundred feet into the air. How many times have we gone over this… you can't always be a friend, sometimes you gotta be a parent, and you're the only parent she's got!"_

_Stormcloud sighed and nuzzled Rainbow affectionately. "I know, but what can I say? The kid loves to run. I think letting her outside more will help stimulate her flying instincts, too… Soon she'll be flying just like all of the other foals her age!"_

"_Storm…" Thunderstrike sighed. "I'm your best pal, why don't you ever listen to me? I know you're frustrated that Rainbow's late on her milestones, but seriously, she was born four months premature. It's impressive that she's even here right now. She'll catch up."_

_Stormcloud sighed. "…Yeah…" He said, smirking as he playfully swatted Rainbow with his black tail. Rainbow laughed and rolled out of the way, and Thunderstrike was left shaking his head but smiling widely._

_Suddenly, the clouded floor beneath Twilight turned into a field of green, rolling hills. The air became heavier, almost sweeter. Cloudsdale and its inhabitants were completely gone. Instead, Twilight was looking at an old farmhouse. The paint was cracked with age. Fields of apple trees overwhelmed the entire properly._

_In the middle of it all, two young ponies were playing. The colt was clearly older, and had a red coat with an orange mane. He was kicking the apple trees, which caused the apples to fall into a bucket positioned underneath the tree. He was mostly ignoring the younger filly, who was orange with a yellow mane. She was trying to imitate the older pony, and though she seemed to have the right technique for kicking trees, she was clearly too small to make much of an impact. Both ponies shared the same bright green eyes._

"_Granny Smith, oh, thank you for coming." Twilight's attention was averted to the conversation taking place near the house. A young mare with an identical red colouring to the colt, identical green eyes to both of the foals, and a mane mixed with orange and yellow was talking to a green-coloured elderly mare. Both the green mare's white mane and tail were tied up into buns. Suitcases were sitting beside her._

"_No problem at all, Summerfree, sweetie! Now, where're mah grandkids at? …And where's mah son?" The elderly mare asked, looking around as if confused._

"_The… the kids are over there in the fields, you can see them from here… Granny, Cameo's in the hospital again, remember?" Summerfree asked anxiously. "That's why I asked you to come over and help look after them. This farm's a huge job for one pony… And just look at my kids! Look at little Applejack!" She sighed sadly as she looked at the orange filly. "Not old enough to form complete sentences, but old enough to know how to buck an apple tree. They deserve more than this."_

"_Mmm…" Granny mused, watching the kids with interest. "They're takin' after their father, that's what they're doin'! Good fer them!" She nodded, then looked a bit confused. "Wait… what were we talkin' 'bout again? Erm, anyways, how's my Cameo doin'?"_

_Summerfree watched her children for a few moments before replying. "Not… not good. They think with medication he'll last a few years, but there's no cure." The wind blew by eerily, and there was a momentary silence as the two adults watched the children. "He won't see them grow up…"_

_The wind picked up, and dirt scattered around the scene. Though Twilight knew she wasn't physically there, she still winced and instinctively looked away. When she looked back, the scene had changed entirely. Gone was the green grass and blue sky, replaced with bleak rock-covered fields and a cloudy overcast._

_In the middle of the field sat three very little fillies. Two of the three were very dully coloured, their coats consisting mainly of various shades of grey. The third, however, was entirely pink except for her blue eyes._

"_Follow me!" The pink pony squeaked, and trotted unsteadily away. The other two foals looked much more cautious, and were hesitant in following the pink filly. "Inkie! Blinkie! Come with me!" The pink pony repeated. Twilight recognized that voice, but even if she hadn't, she could still have guessed that the pink pony must be Pinkie Pie. She didn't seem any older than Rainbow Dash or Applejack, though Twilight was hardly surprised that she was the only one of them able to talk._

_The creaking of an old door grabbed Twilight's attention, and she turned to see a brown stallion and a grey mare walk out of a tiny old house. Twilight noted that the mare shared Pinkie's blue eyes. "Look at them, Clyde." The grey mare said, pointing a hoof at the three foals. "Look at Pinkamena… she's certainly talkative for one so young…"_

_The brown stallion nodded slowly. "Hmph. She's a bit odd, that's for sure, Sue."_

"_Did you hear what she's been calling her sisters?" Sue asked. Clyde shook his head. "Inkie and Blinkie. And she insists on being called Pinkie… how incredibly odd. She takes after your mother."_

_Clyde snorted and pawed at the ground. "…She'll grow out of it. Childish behaviours like this must be normal. A bit hard to tell when you get triplets."_

"_Come on!" Pinkie's voice called out again, though her sisters still didn't seem willing to respond. "Come play!"_

"…_I certainly hope she grows out of it…" Sue said with a sigh before going back inside. After a moment of hesitation, Clyde followed her._

…

Gah, this is a bad place to stop. It's my fault for not putting more effort into writing today. I knew it was supposed to be long, but… oh, whatever. I guess this leaves it open for opinions, and gives me more time to work on the other "flashbacks" (I didn't really get to explain that either… mehhh)

I actually started writing a fanfic detailing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's pasts, which is where I got the part for Rainbow from. Fluttershy's past is way too complicated there, though, so I had to make up a new background for her. (I don't know if this fic will ever be published. Only about a quarter of the stuff I start writing ever makes it onto the internet)

By the way, I noticed that my profile views spiked on the Tuesdays and Fridays that I didn't update. This is the right thing to check, because I usually post something there explaining a chapter's absence or lateness.

So, yeah! Read and review! Please. Thanks!


	26. Chapter 26

Thanks to Guest, Hubord68, Wing Zero 032, Jake Everfree, ganadoleader, Guest, Alex Barkhorn, BlackShock95, y1fellas, Hopeless, DarkStratos, 6mythlvr6, BekasaurusRex, Alex Leep, criketsnipa, Sandstorm3D, rederci939, Eddie201, Scarlet Rabbit, Endymion Blue, , iPinkNinja, juter4397, MoneyMan538, Kinky Pie, and Guest for their reviews! Thank you so much for the unbelievable amount of feedback… and sorry if there are any typos in your usernames.

Also, sorry for skipping the last update. I have so many legit excuses, but let's just move on. :D

I don't own MLP.

…

_As Twilight watched Pinkie gaze sadly at her two sisters, the wind churned up the dust once again. Twilight looked away for a moment to protect herself, and when she looked back she was indoors. _

_It was a small house, but it looked nice enough. Like any normal house, Twilight could see an entryway, a kitchen, and a small sitting area. The furniture was all of a bit shorter than what Twilight was used to; obviously to accommodate ponies rather than people. Stairs appeared to lead to bedrooms. The décor in the place looked rather outdated, as if it was from the 1980s… granted, Twilight knew that year system probably didn't apply in Equestria. _

_There was a light purple unicorn mare with a large deep purple hairstyle cooking something at the stove in the kitchen. She used the magic from her horn to swirl a spoon around the bowl. From what Twilight could tell, it looked like she was cooking hay, which Twilight found to be both amusing and slightly pointless. Sitting atop a chair at the kitchen table was a unicorn stallion who was a very light shade of grey, nearly white. He had a brown mane, and was absently scanning a newspaper. In the center of it all was a tiny white filly with a curly deep purple mane. All three ponies had blue eyes._

_Twilight watched as the unicorn filly picked something up with her mouth. Twilight wasn't sure what the object was at first, but as the filly approached the hideous floral wallpaper, Twilight quickly realized it was a black marker._

"_Magnum?" The light purple mare asked as she watched and stirred the pot. "You're watching Rarity, aren't you?"_

"_E-er, yes, of course hun." The stallion glanced over from his newspaper and nearly fell out of his chair. "Rarity, no! Give that to Daddy!" He shouted, rushing over and pulling the marker out of the foal's mouth. The unicorn filly's ears flattened at the scolding. "Rarity, how many times have we said not to draw on the walls!" He continued in exasperation._

_The cooking mare whirled around in surprise to inspect the damage. Little Rarity had started sobbing, and both of her parents sighed. From what Twilight could tell, Rarity had started attempting to colour in some of the brightly coloured flowers on the wall. In Twilight's opinion, it was an improvement._

"_You know, Pearl." Magnum said, eying the kitchen. "Maybe Rarity's trying to tell us something, arencha little one?" He asked, gently tickling Rarity with one hoof. Rarity's sobs faded away, and she started giggling instead._

"…_Hm…" Pearl said, her eyes slowly looking around her outdated house. "I guess we are a bit overdue for a renovation."_

"_See? Rarity has the eye of a designer already, doncha kiddo? Yes you do, yes you do!" Magnum praised as Rarity's laughs echoed louder around the room._

_Pearl raised an eyebrow, but couldn't help smile at her daughter's laughter. "She certainly does. Did you see what she did to my blouse the other day? It's more of a shawl now." She chuckled. "Anyhoo, I guess I could give Velveteen a visit. She's more of a clothing designer, but I'm sure she'd be willing to lend a hoof."_

"_Well, actually…" The unicorn stallion sighed. "I read in the newspaper that Carousel Boutique is going out of business. Velveteen's moving on."_

"_Oh my!" Pearl exclaimed with wide eyes. "That's just awful to hear…"_

"_Gives Rarity here an opportunity though, don't it kiddo?" He asked as he scooped Rarity up into his arms, then placed her into a high chair. He then paused, and sniffed the air. "Um, sweetheart, did you leave the hay boiling…?"_

"_Oh!" With a start, the light purple mare raced back to the pot. She raised the spoon out of the pot with a dismayed expression as she saw the hay, which was somehow burned black despite being in a pot filled with water._

_The scene slowly faded away, and Twilight looked upon a new room. This one was much more spacious, and was absolutely covered in children's toys. Several small foals were scattered around the area. Twilight guessed it was a daycare. There was only one adult in the room – a heavier mare with a rose-coloured coat, wings, and a short mane that was coloured equally with a soft blue and green. _

_Her yellow-green eyes were reading over what looked like paperwork at a desk, and she didn't immediately look up as the sound of a door opening rang through the room. "Good morning, my name's Hazel Starr, and welcome to…" The rose-coloured mare started, but paused as she looked up and saw a deep purple pegasus filly with a light blue mane walk through the door. The new pony looked considerably younger than the first mare, but they were about the same height. Twilight guessed she was the pony equivalent of a teenager. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Violet! Look at me, I was about to give you the whole spiel!" She laughed and trotted over to nuzzle the newcomer._

"_Don't worry, mum. I know you're busy." Violet smiled as nearly all of the foals in the room excitedly ran to greet her. All except for one who cowered in the corner; a tiny pale-yellow pegasus filly with a light-pink mane and blue-green eyes that Twilight could recognize from anywhere. "Fluuuttershy!" The deep-purple filly sang, which achieved the yellow foal's attention, but little else. _

"_Leave her, Vi." Hazel ordered from back at the desk. "You know Fluttershy doesn't like it when you get all of the other foals worked up. It makes the poor little dear nervous."_

_Violet frowned for a moment, then pumped the wings on her back up and down and flew over the rest of the foals to sit next to Fluttershy. "Piece of cake." She whispered, gently nuzzling the pale-yellow filly. Fluttershy gave a tiny smile, and happy returned the affection. "See mum? She's fine when I'm here. You love your big sister, don't you sweetheart?" Violet cooed as Fluttershy's huge eyes watched her with interest._

_Hazel froze, and glanced over. "Now, Violet…" She said sternly, causing her daughter to shoot her a glare._

"_You know it's true, mum." Violet said with a grin as the other foals caught up to her again. "Guys! Come on now, be nice!" She giggled as they playfully swarmed around. "Who wants to fly on my back?"_

_A chorus of "Me!" and "I do!" rang through the room. Fluttershy backed away from the commotion, looking frightened. Hazel chuckled and flew over to the yellow filly as her daughter left the building with several foals clinging to her mane for dear life._

"_It's okay, little one." Hazel said gently as she planted a kiss on Fluttershy's forehead. "I love you." The room started swirling around in a blur, and when it stopped, Twilight was in a different room._

_At last, Twilight came across a scene that she recognized. She remembered it from the dream she'd had previously with her parents and Princess Celestia. Twilight could see her filly self in the exact same spot on the floor in front of the pegboard. The sound of hooves told Twilight that there were other ponies elsewhere in the house; mostly likely, they were her parents. Her brother, Shining Armor, was watching her play. Twilight guessed he hadn't taken that task willingly, for he looked a tad bored. _

_Far from being helpful, Shining pointed out the square peg hole when his sister grasped the circle in her mouth. "That one, Twilie. Try to put it in that one." He said with a playful smirk. Twilight couldn't help but notice – and recognize – the nickname. Nobody had ever called her that except for him…_

_Twilight watched herself attempt to put the peg in the wrong hole before she realized her mistake and shot her older brother a death glare. It was amusing to watch, since Twilight knew that look all too well. As she watched her filly self correctly place the peg into the circle hole, a voice started echoing around her._

"_Twilight." Princess Celestia called gently, though she wasn't in the room. The two ponies continued playing as if nothing had happened._

"_Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked, tearing her gaze away from the scene to scan curiously around._

"_Twilight… It's okay, I'm only projecting my voice to you. What you've just witnessed is the events of the day before I had to tell all of the families that I had to take their children away from them." Princess Celestia explained._

"_I don't understand." Twilight said, her gaze focusing back onto herself. "Why are you showing me this?"_

"_A good question, my faithful student…" Princess Celestia's voice praised. "It's because I need you to trust me."_

"_I-I do trust you!" Twilight insisted. _

"_You trust me, but only blindly." The princess explained. Twilight realized she was right. "I need you to understand that you all belong here, and that you need to come back."_

"_So…" Twilight said slowly. "Why were we taken away in the first place?"_

_There was a silence. "Twilight… " Princess Celestia said, but it was followed by another silence. _

"_Don't I deserve to know by now?" Twilight asked._

_Princess Celestia gave a small laugh. "Yes, perhaps. But it would be catastrophic for me to tell you this myself. If you cannot figure it out on your own, our world could be in mortal danger."_

"_That doesn't make me feel much better…"_

"_I know. I apologize. I'll leave you to rest; I need to prepare myself. I'll be back in a little while." The echoing stopped._

"_W-wait!" Twilight exclaimed, but the world had gone black._

…

"How long has it been, 'Shy?" Rainbow Dash asked as she watched Twilight lay unmoving on her bed. Since Rainbow had last seen her, Twilight had sprouted a purple horn, and strands of her hair were turning a navy blue. Spike was curled up next to Twilight's head, fast asleep.

"Over a day…" Fluttershy responded in a whisper as not to disturb the sleeping baby dragon. Fluttershy's green-blue eyes looked at Rainbow with questions she wasn't brave enough to ask.

Rainbow could sense the curiosity all the same. "I showed Will that I had wings."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Was he okay with that?"

"No. He was jealous, obviously." Fluttershy looked even more concerned at this statement, and Rainbow sighed. "That was supposed to be a joke. He was cool with it."

"O-oh, well, that's good…" Fluttershy said quickly. "Have you, um, seen Rarity? I didn't want to leave Twilight… especially when Spike's asleep…"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the purple dragon. "Why's he asleep anyways? Seems lazy to me."

Fluttershy shook her head. "He was up all night."

"Oh." There was a slight pause before Rainbow remembered the original question. "Oh yeah, and Rarity's just being a drama queen. Something about "purple hair" and "the worst possible thing". She'll come out eventually. There's only so much of Pinkie's diet that anyone can take."

"I hope she's okay." Fluttershy said quietly as she watched Twilight. "I hope they're both okay."

…

_Twilight suddenly found herself standing on all four of her hooved legs in a large, familiar room. Atop a pedestal stood Princess Celestia, and Twilight sunk automatically into a bow._

"_I'm flattered Twilight, but there's really no need." The white winged mare said with a smile._

_Twilight straightened and returned the smile. "It's been a while since I've been here." Twilight commented as she looked around the room to the stained glass windows and huge ceiling._

"_Indeed it has." Princess Celestia agreed. "I've brought you here for a very special purpose, my faithful student." Twilight looked up, interested. "I need to teach you the spell that will get you and you friends from Earth to Equestria."_

_Twilight pawed the ground nervously. "Are you sure I can do that?"_

"_I'm positive, Twilight." Princess Celestia bowed her head so that Twilight could see her horn glowing a faint shade of gold. "You're almost ready, but this is just for practice. Once you can do it correctly, I'll wake you up. I'll do my best to help you, but my powers are drained as it is..."_

_Twilight nodded slowly, and braced herself. "What do I do?" She asked._

"_Focus." Princess Celestia said simply. "Close your eyes and focus. I will guide you." Slowly, Twilight did as she was told. "Do you feel that power, Twilight? Reach out and hold onto it."_

_Twilight indeed felt a new sort of power inside of her. She remembered straining towards the fork, and realized that the feeling was similar, though it had grown enormously. _

"_Reach towards it, Twilight." Princess Celestia repeated. _

_Twilight extended her mind towards the power, and felt it resist her. She grunted as she pushed again the resistance, and she could feel the power being moved towards her horn. _

"_That's it Twilight, you're doing it!" Twilight opened one eye out of curiosity, but quickly closed it as she was blinded by an extremely bright golden and purple light. As she continued to move the power, it built and built inside of her forehead. "Almost there Twilight, now just hold onto it!"_

…

The door to Fluttershy and Twilight's room opened, and four worried girls piled in. Rarity had attempted to shield her head with an overlarge hat, though the cascading purple hair was still hard to miss.

"I dunno what's happening!" Spike exclaimed as Twilight groaned in her sleep. Her horn had started glowing purple. "I mean, unicorn horns glow when they're performing magic, but usually you perform magic when you're awake."

The girls gathered around Twilight. "I hope nothing bad's happening." Fluttershy whimpered, watching her roommate with frightened eyes.

"She'll be alright, sugercube." Applejack comforted. "The princess knows what she's doing."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I know whatever is happening is totally according to – " Spike was interrupted by a huge flash of gold and purple light, and a popping sound. The girls gave cries of alarm and shielded their eyes.

When everyone looked back up, Twilight was slowly sitting up in bed. She rubbed her forehead and groaned, but paused as she touched her new horn. "That's so weird." Twilight commented, looking a bit surprised to see all of her friends gathered around her. "Guys? What's going on? …And where's Spike?"

"Oh Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed as she and the rest of the girls piled onto a surprised Twilight for a group hug. "You were out for so long, I mean, it's been like, two whole days! I was starting to think you'd never wake up, but Rarity said that was nonsense and not to say it too loud so I wouldn't worry the others – "

"Hang on," Rainbow Dash interrupted, looking around the room. "Where _is _Spike?"

The six girls glanced around, but couldn't see the baby dragon anywhere. After a bit of frantic searching and name calling, a thought came to Twilight's head. "Girls," Twilight said, the note of panic causing all five of the others to look over at her. "Please tell me you didn't see a flash of gold and purple light…"

"Yeah, it was really pretty, but kind of hard to look at…" Pinkie Pie commented with a frown.

Twilight's eyes widened. "…Ohhh no."

…

There we go! A tad longer than usual! Yay!

I found the season three song previews only a few hours ago. I think I've watched each of them like twenty times each, no word of a lie. I was watching for about an hour. LOL

Anyhow, read and review! I love getting reviews and responding to them, so keep 'em coming!


	27. Chapter 27

Thanks to ganadoleader, DarkStratos, juter4397, Alex Barkhorn, y1fellas, BlackShock95, JosephATW, Hubord68, LunaEnchantment, Guest, Lyra Heartstrings14, rederci939, Kinky Pie, MoneyMan538, Wing Zero 032, Endymion Blue, Guest, DoubleRainboom12345678910, iPinkNinja, and Alex Leep for reviewing!

I've decided to change the schedule to Tuesday updates only, because I keep skipping the Friday ones. Sorry.

This is my 27th chapter… 27 is my lucky number. Yay!

Thanks to MoneyMan538 for the suggestion to include a Lauren Faust reference.

I don't own MLP!

…

Spike was gone.

In a panic, Twilight attempted to stand, only to be pushed back down by her five friends.

"Whoa there, sugercube." Applejack exclaimed. "You've been out for two days. Take it nice and slow, now."

Twilight nodded, trying to collect her thoughts. Her first instinct was to write a letter to Princess Celestia – only, without Spike, this was no longer an option. How on earth was she supposed to keep in contact? How would she know when to perform the spell? Twilight wasn't even sure if she'd be able to repeat it. Experimentally, Twilight turned her head towards her desk and focused on the pen that Spike seemed to favour. She found her power easily channeled through her horn this time, and the pen was soon floating in midair with a purple aura surrounding it.

"Are you sure you should be doing that, darling?" Rarity asked skeptically as Twilight floated the pen over to herself and caught it out of midair.

Twilight nodded. The act had made her a bit lightheaded, but other than that she felt fine. She spun the pen around in her hands absently as she tried to read her friends' concerned expressions. "I feel fine…" Twilight insisted as her eyes darted between them. Their expressions didn't change. "What's going on? What happened while I was asleep?"

"A lot." Rainbow Dash said, and finally cracked a smile. "Maybe you should show her, Pinkie."

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie Pie said happily before zipping out of the room and returning seconds later with a laptop. "Hold on Twilight!" She said, frantically typing away at the keyboard.

Rarity sighed. "Honestly you two, this is an absolute disaster… Stop grinning like that, it's inappropriate." She scolded, earning herself a glare from Rainbow Dash.

"Why?" Twilight asked, sitting up straighter in bed and craning her neck to get a look at Pinkie's computer. "What did you do this time?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, folding her arms. "I didn't do anything! Uh, well, I didn't do anything _else_! Same old stupid wings rumours." She said irritably.

Pinkie turned the laptop so that Twilight had a better view. "See? Dashie's famous!"

Twilight stared at the screen, where there was a blurred picture of Rainbow Dash hovering in midair. It was taken from the back, so the wings were clear, but Rainbow's face was not. It looked as if it was taken from a cellphone. "Flying girl in my PAL class…?" Twilight read, glancing down the page. "You and… _three hundred and forty-five others like this_?" Twilight read in horror.

"Yup, that about sums it up." Applejack agreed. "The whole campus is onto us… We've been tryin' tah lay low, but…"

Twilight frantically scanned the comments. "What in the… _"Wish I was a pony so I could fly"? "Where is Equestria anyways"? _How the hell do they know about that?" Twilight asked, staring at her friends questioningly. The other girls slowly turned their gazes towards Pinkie Pie, who beamed.

"Oh, oh right!" Pinkie said, giggling. "Scroll up!"

Twilight slowly took control of the touchpad and went backwards in the mass amount of comments. One of the very first comments caught her eye, and Twilight groaned as she read it. "Pinkamena Diane Pie says: "Omigosh Dashie, now everyone will know we're ponies! That's super awesome, I bet Twilight will be mad though, good thing she doesn't have Facebook… Once we get back to Equestria, we'll have lots of cool stories to tell everybody" …PINKIE!" Twilight shouted in disbelief. "Why would you say something like that? This is ridiculous!"

Pinkie Pie seemed unconcerned. "I thought the readers would find it funny! Read the rest of the comments!" She cheered instead.

"The readers?" Twilight asked. "Uh, like, on Facebook?"

Pinkie stared eerily straight ahead for a few moments, then blinked rapidly and giggled. "Of course that's what I mean, silly!"

Twilight sighed and continued down the line of comments. "…Pinkie… these people are all crazy… Some girl called "Lauren Faust" says that "this gives her a great idea for a children's cartoon"!"

Pinkie Pie smiled. "I know right! We're all gonna be FAMOUS!"

Twilight shook her head, but decided it wasn't worth arguing over. What was done was done, and they wouldn't be around long enough to see the aftermath anyways. Twilight took a moment to glance around the room, and noticed something was missing from Fluttershy's half. "Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "Where's your fishbowl?" Twilight prayed that the tiny betta fish hadn't somehow died while she was asleep; she knew how much Fluttershy loved the thing.

"Oh…" Fluttershy said sadly, but gave a small smile regardless. "I gave him to Marilyn. She promised to look after him when we went to Equestria. I just know she'll take good care of him."

"W-wait! Marilyn knows about this too?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twi, everyone knows 'bout this, remember?" Applejack chuckled. "We can trust Marilyn though. We had a nice chat with her; she's with us."

"So is Will." Rainbow Dash added. "They're real friends, not like those other jerks…"

Twilight nodded and tried to get up again. This time her friends didn't push her back down.

"D'ya need any help, Twi?" Applejack asked, and she and the rest of them moved forward to help her up, but Twilight shook her head.

"I feel fine." Twilight insisted, and carefully got to her feet.

"I could get you some food? Or water?" Fluttershy timidly offered, but again Twilight shook her head.

"Thanks, but I'm okay." Twilight realized that this was an odd thing to say after not having any food or water for two whole days, but it was the truth. Twilight attributed it to magic. She stretched lightly, then took a few steps towards the door. "I need to go to the library…" Twilight realized, thinking back to the books she had seen there on magic. Certainly one of them would have the correct spell… and besides that, she was intensely curious about different types of magic .

"Uh, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said, interrupting Twilight's thoughts. Twilight looked over to see Rainbow looking down on her from the air with a skeptical expression. "You might want to look in the mirror before you go anywhere…"

Twilight blinked in confusion, but turned towards the mirror nonetheless. She had to take a few steps backwards out of shock. Besides the purple horn sticking out of her forehead, she had also gained navy blue hair with two streaks of pink and purple running through it. "But… wait… this means..." Twilight's eyes widened. "The magic transfusion is complete?" It was a guess, though it was an educated one. Hair seemed to be the last thing that changed on all of her friends; Twilight was expecting it to take a few days for herself as well.

"I suppose I could make another giant hat…" Rarity said, putting one hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Honestly though, you'll cause a riot either way going outside. As Pinkie Pie so accurately put it… we're famous."

Twilight slowly nodded, then turned and went back to sit in her desk chair. "I have a plan." Twilight said, looking between her friends. "Are you guys up for it?"

To Twilight's surprise, all five of them nodded before even asking what the plan was. It was Pinkie who finally said something, as she tipped her head questioningly to one side. "This sounds exciting, but what _is_ the plan?"

Twilight laughed. "The library is open 24/7. And unless I'm mistaken on how long I was out, it's a Sunday."

As the five others realized what Twilight was getting at, they gave a collective groan.

…

"Just as I thought!" Twilight said with a grin as her and the five others opened the door to the library. "Nobody's around!"

"Oh yeah, Twilight," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "That might be because it's, oh, I don't know, _three in the freaking morning?"_

Rarity yawned. "I want to get back to my beauty sleep." She complained.

"Come on, girls!" Twilight urged her sleepy friends forward. "The bookcase is just over here!" Twilight said, pointing at it.

"Yay!" Pinkie Pie cheered, seeming to be the only one not affected by their interrupted sleep. "This is super exciting! Let me see!" She rushed ahead of the others. Twilight followed closely behind her, but the other four girls took a detour to a table designated for group projects. It was rectangular, and had six wooden chairs surrounding it.

"See anything, Pinkie?" Twilight asked as Pinkie Pie sifted through the stacks of books.

"Hmm…" Pinkie said, looking thoughtful. "What about this one? _Magic 101: A Guide for Beginners."_

Twilight nodded slowly and took the book out of Pinkie's grasp. Twilight flipping through it; it detailed unicorn magic usage in very simple words, as if it was written for young children. Granted, it probably was written for a child… or a foal, as the case may be. "Thanks Pinkie. I'll take a look at this."

"No problemo, sister!" Pinkie Pie smiled. "I'll keep looking in case anything else that's interesting is hiding in here!"

Twilight nodded and returned the smile before going other to the table. She gently prodded Fluttershy, who had fallen asleep, and sat in a chair beside her.

"Hmm… w-what?" Fluttershy asked drowsily as her eyes reopened. Rarity and Applejack looked like they weren't too far away from falling asleep as well. Rainbow just looked really annoyed at being awake.

Twilight read over the book. The first several pages described how to gather energy within the horn, which Twilight already could do. It didn't take Twilight long to master levitation, and she'd soon gotten the hang of making her horn light up like a flashlight as well. Her friends watched with interested, if still a bit sleepy, expressions.

"Ah think you should be the one readin' that, Rarity." Applejack pointed out. "Twi seems to have it down pat."

Twilight realized Applejack was probably correct, and pushed the book over to Rarity, who looked at it nervously. "O-oh, I don't know…" Rarity said uncertainly. Her friends all stated simultaneous words of encouragement, which caused Rarity to sigh and open the book. "Oh, all right, if you insist…"

"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said, zipping over to her. "Look what I found!" Pinkie handed Twilight a book that read _'Teleportation: A Complete Guide'._

"Pinkie, this is perfect!" Twilight praised, and quickly started reading it.

"And for you, Dashie!" Pinkie said happily, handing Rainbow Dash a book as well.

Rainbow looked at it skeptically. "I hate reading… wait… nevermind!" Rainbow lit up as she scanned the title of the book. "'_One Hundred and One Flying Tricks for Daring Pegasi'… Awesome._"

After several minutes, Rarity had succeeded in making her horn glow blue, but still couldn't get the hang of any precise tricks. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I just don't think I'm ready for this yet."

"It's okay, Rarity." Twilight said, looking up from learning the basics of teleportation. "Maybe when we get to Equestria, right?"

"I suppose…" Rarity agreed halfheartedly.

For the next hour or two, the other girls watched as Twilight learned to teleport herself further and further away. It was during this that Twilight felt a sort of different power inside of her. It reminded her somewhat of her dream the night before.

"So, have you learned it, yet?" Rainbow asked, and did several flips in midair. She had quickly taken advantage of the library's high ceilings to practice some of the tricks she had read in the book.

Twilight hesitated, then her horn glowed a mixture of purple and gold. The other girls stared at her in awe. "I… I can do it. But…" The glow suddenly stopped. Twilight took a few seconds to catch her breath. "Not right now. Not until you all are ready." Twilight decided. Her friends exchanged looks with each other.

"We're ready, sugercube." Applejack grinned.

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "When you were asleep, we took care of everything just in case something crazy happened."

Rarity nodded. "I've spoken to my family. I'm ready."

"LET'S DO THIS!" Pinkie Pie cheered, thrusting a fist into the air.

"…If that's okay with you, Twilight." Fluttershy added, causing all of the girls to look at Twilight.

Twilight hesitated. "I - " The sound of a door opening interrupted her thoughts, and all six of them swung around, panicked.

"It's not even six am yet!" Rainbow said in an irritated, but appropriately quiet tone. "Who the hell would come to the library to study this early?"

Twilight decided not to mention that she herself would definitely had come to the library this early at some point if given the opportunity to complete the school year. "…Well, nevermind. Come over here." She ushered the six of them into the corner. Her horn started to glow purple and gold again.

The sound of a door opening echoed around the room again, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. "Twilight…?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"Join…" Twilight groaned as the light grew stronger. Her friends took a cautious step backwards, but Twilight gestured them forward, then shut her eyes tightly. "Join hands."

The five girls quickly complied, and soon all six of them were linked together. The light grew stronger and stronger, and a wind started to surround them. With a huge flash of light and one final cry from Twilight, they were gone.

…

So, that's that, I guess! I think I included most of what I wanted to include in the university part. I had to remove a few select scenes for the sake of plot (that or I thought of them too late lol), and was considering uploading them into a separate fic or something. Idk. :3

Expect the next update on Tuesday. If I manage to get one out on Friday, well, good for me! But I don't want to keep telling you I update on Fridays when half the time I don't anymore. I've read fics with update schedules before, and I know it's really annoying when they skip updates. So I'm aiming for Tuesdays… and possibly later in the day on Tuesdays instead of earlier in the morning.

Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to leave comments, questions, queries, etc.!


	28. Chapter 28

Thanks to Vivi-UndeterminedCamper, iPinkNinja, BekasaurusRex, Endymion Blue, Luna Enchantment, Alex Barkhorn, Jake-Everfree, Wing Zero 032, JosephATW, MoneyMan538, Ms. Rookroll, BlackShock95, Kinky Pie, Flightstar, rederci939, ganadoleader, Stunningfire, Hubord68, Scarlet Rabbit, y1fellas, JustAnotherFangirl27, DoubleRainboom12345678910, and Guest for reviewing! Gosh, you guys are awesome. I never imagined I'd have this much support for a fic! I apologize for any misspellings of your usernames, since I just type them out really quickly before I post the chapter. I also noticed that fanfiction. net was censoring some usernames with periods in their name in previous chapters.. I think because it resembled a url. Sorry about that, I didn't realize it would do that… I'll be sure to separate usernames with this properly from now on.

…Anyways, sorry it's late. Here's the deal: I was only getting two five hour shifts a week at work, so I contacted my supervisors and said, and I quote, "Do you think you could squeeze in an extra shift a week for me?" And bam, now I work full time. I don't even know. But I couldn't write when I was planning to and whenever I started writing I'd fall asleep and… yeah. I don't mind, I just wasn't expecting it. It threw me off. It'll be better from now on.

But let's move onto the chapter you've been waiting for. :3 I don't own MLP.

…

Twilight's eyes were shut tightly. She felt as though she was being squeezed through a very small pipe at a very high speed, and the combination of intense pressure and vertigo was making it difficult to concentrate on the teleportation spell.

"_You're almost there, Twilight." _Princess Celestia's voice echoed around her. _"Just hold on to the spell as tightly as you can."_

Twilight gritted her teeth and poured all of her energy into the spell. The seconds ticked past, and Twilight began to panic; was she doing it correctly? Exhaustion and uncertainty caused her to falter, and suddenly she hit a patch of grassy ground.

Dizzied and fatigued, it took several seconds before Twilight could even open her eyes, and when she did so, the scene in front of her was blurred. To top it off, her head was absolutely pounding.

"...Did we… did we make it?" Applejack's voice came from somewhere close to Twilight.

"I'm awfully dizzy." Rarity complained.

"That. Was. _Awesome!_" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Wheeeee! I still feel like I'm spinning!" Pinkie said with a bout of laughter.

"Girls?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "I-I can't get up."

"Me neither, sugercube. Give your head a few seconds to rest." Applejack reassured.

"Hey, I haven't heard Twilight yet…" Rainbow Dash commented.

"Twilight?" Rarity called. "Are you alright? Please say something, you're worrying me."

Twilight attempted to tell them that she was fine, but it came out as a pathetic-sounding moan.

"Oh good, she's okay!" Pinkie Pie said happily.

"…Debateable…" Twilight groaned.

"Well, yer here, ain't ya?" Applejack chuckled. "Hold on a sec, Ah'll be right over, Twi." Twilight's ears flicked towards the sound of somebody shuffling and Applejack's voice grunting with effort.

Twilight froze. Her ears… _flicked?_

"Twilight." Applejack's voice was suddenly a lot closer to her. "Yer alright, c'mon, up y'get. Ah know it's a mite odd to have four legs, but just take yer time."

Relief swept through Twilight. "The spell worked…" She murmured, then slowly tried to follow Applejack's orders and rose onto her four shaky limbs. Her vision was clearing up, and she could make out all five of her friends in various stages of uprightness. They all looked just like they had in her dream of them as foals - except they were grown. Twilight blinked, and tried to take in her surroundings. Wherever they were, it definitely wasn't inside of the beautiful royal hall she had been aiming towards. Granted, the huge spiraling towers that were standing proudly in front of them seemed to suggest that they weren't far away. The city was built into the side of a cliff, and that cliff also had waterfalls cascading down its side.

"You did it, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie cheered and spontaneously emitted confetti. "I can't believe it! We're finally here! _We're finally here!"_

Twilight smiled in spite of herself. "Yeah, I guess we are. Is everyone alright?"

"Ah think so." Applejack said on behalf of everybody. "Guess mah hat didn't make the trip though…" She sighed. "Darn. Ah loved that thing."

Rarity rolled her eyes from her sitting position on the grass. "Honestly, it's your _hat_ of all things that you're worried about? You do realize that none of us are wearing _any _form of clothing?" The comment caused Fluttershy to blush intensely, though the others seemed unconcerned. "We're all indecent!"

Rainbow Dash, who had started hovering in the air as per usual, scoffed. "Last time I checked, horses don't wear clothes, Rarity!" She pointed out.

Rarity pointed her nose into the air. "Well, they _should! _Shouldn't we be at least wearing saddles or something? …You know, that gives me an interesting idea for a new design… Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Girls!" Twilight interrupted before the argument could heat up. "I think we should start walking. I'm pretty sure Canterlot is right over there." She pointed a hoof towards the spiraling towers, though felt a bit ridiculous doing so without any fingers. "Princess Celestia must be waiting for us."

The others nodded their understanding, though it took them a few minutes to figure out how their legs were supposed to work. Twilight didn't feel that moving on four limbs was difficult, just unfamiliar and unusual. Still, she knew she'd done it before in what felt like a past life to her. It didn't take them too long to get walking down pat.

All six of them hesitated as they approached the city. They could see other ponies going about their daily lives, which was intimidating to say the least. Twilight slowly led the group through the streets, where they were starting to get a few stares.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered, her eyes darting around in alarm. "Why are they all looking at us?"

Twilight could see that they were starting to attract quite a bit of attention, though she didn't have an answer for Fluttershy. "Let's… let's just keep walking."

"Uh, Twi?" Applejack asked. "Do you know where we're supposed tah be headed?"

Twilight hesitated, since she had no clue, but hated to admit it. If only she had realized she'd need directions… she would have asked for a map well ahead of time. "Well… not really, no." Five exasperated groans came in response to this revelation. "I'm sure we could just ask! They all must know where their princess lives, right?" She asked nervously.

A few of the ponies – mostly unicorns, from what Twilight could tell – looked as if they wanted to say something, but quickly looked away upon making eye contact. They weren't shy in sharing their thoughts with friends, however.

"That's… that's so _unusual!" _One unicorn mare said to another pony standing beside her. Other voices were quick to echo her.

"Aren't they a bit old? Poor things…"

"I've never seen an adult pony without a cutie mark before… And six of them, at that!"

"What do you think they're doing here? Should we alert the Royal Guard?"

The voices in the crowd rose to a frenzied volume. Twilight could only watch in exasperation. "E-excuse me?" Twilight timidly attempted to approach a small group of ponies, who all backed fearfully away. She turned to some different ponies. "Please, could you tell me - ?"

It was no use. Somehow, they'd caused a state of utter chaos. "Wow, what a fracus!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Now what do we do, Twilight?" All five of them turned hopefully towards the lavender mare.

Twilight watched the other ponies for a few moments before turning back towards her friends. "…Hm… I guess it makes sense, I mean, horses are herd animals, aren't they? Interesting, even with thought processes developed to that of human capacity, they still - "

"TWILIGHT!"

"Uh, right." Twilight shook her head lightly. "Maybe if we just keep walking - "

Suddenly, two huge stallions landed in front of them. Both were pure white pegasi, and were wearing headgear that greatly resembled Greek helmets. Their presence had caused the crowd to go dead silent. Twilight wisely backed away, seeing as they were towering over them with poker-faced expressions.

"You." The stallion on the left addressed Twilight directly. "Are you Shining's sister?" He asked, his voice emotionless.

"W-who?" Twilight asked, her heart hammering anxiously in her chest. Her mind was too overwhelmed to fully comprehend what they had said.

"Shining Armor. Head of the Royal Guard, which we are a part of."

"Oh… oh, right!" Twilight said, her memory finally clicking. "Uh, yep, that's my brother all right." She wasn't sure it was the right time to mention that she hadn't seen him since before she was able to talk. "Could you take me to him?" She added hopefully.

"Of course. Her Royal Highness has requested as such." The guard on the right said in a monotone voice. "Shining has been very excited. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you." The lack of emotion in his tone at first made Twilight think he was being sarcastic, but she doubted that was the intention. Still, their serious demeanors were starting to frighten her.

"A-alright then." Twilight said, stealing a quick glance backwards at her bewildered friends before facing the guards again. "Let's be off?"

Both guards nodded in unison. "Follow us." With one swift motion, both of the white pegasi were in the air. With only a few powerful wing strokes, they were already far ahead of the girls.

The crowds parted as the six started walking uncertainly after the guards. Twilight watched as the stallions landed on a perch at what had to be the tallest tower in Canterlot. It would make sense, if it was for royalty.

Guards surrounded the building like a fortress, but moved aside as they approached. "Right this way, Ms. Sparkle and friends." The guards directed them to a huge wooden double door. Two guards with unicorn horns magically influenced them open.

Nervously, all six of them stepped inside. Twilight blinked as her eyes adjusted to the lower lights, then beamed as she made out a familiar figure rushing towards her.

"Spike!" Twilight cried as the little purple dragon happily reached them. "I was so worried… I wasn't sure if you were okay."

"Twilight!" Spike complained as the purple unicorn joyfully nuzzled him. "For Pete's sake, we haven't even been apart for an entire day!" Twilight stepped back, smiling. Spike cleared his throat. "Anyways, I'm glad you're finally ponies. Humans are so weird looking."

"Glad to see ya too, sugercube." Applejack said, laughing lightly. The others voiced their agreements, and a confused Spike seemed to decide not to argue anymore.

"Yeah, okay, so like I was saying…" Spike continued, looking a mix between annoyed and secretly flattered. "Princess Celestia is waiting for you. Follow me!"

As Spike ran ahead and up a wide flight of stairs, the six followed him slowly, entranced by the huge room's high ceilings and beautiful hanging tapestries. It certainly looked like the home of a princess.

The stairs presented a new challenge (Rainbow Dash immediately muttered "screw this" and flew to the top), but once Twilight had conquered them, she was met with the same room filled with stunning stained glass windows that she had seen previously in her dreams with Princess Celestia. Just like in her dreams, the white alicorn stood proudly at the head of the room, and she smiled warmly as she spotted the six of them approaching her. Spike stood dutifully beside her.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, smiling in amazement as she saw the Equestrian ruler for the first time outside of her dreams. Twilight knew that it must had the first time any of her friends had seen the princess at all. They shared similar looks of awe.

"Twilight Sparkle…" Princess Celestia said softly as she walked towards the group. "I'm so proud of you, my faithful student. I'm so proud of all of you." To their surprise, she bowed her head in a gesture of respect. "The feats you have all accomplished at such tender ages continue to amaze me. I took everything away from you, and yet you rose from the ashes. You discovered who you were, and you didn't let the environment you were placed in deter you. And now… now I've taken everything from you again. Once more, you need to start anew, and unfortunately there isn't a lot of time. Please accept my sincerest apology… I've had to be very unfair to you."

Twilight realized that Princess Celestia was right. Fitting into a completely different society – a completely different world - was not going to be a walk in the park. Her studies on astronomy and physics probably meant zip in this dimension. Magic existing at all was proof of that. Therefore, one thing that the princess had said made no sense to Twilight. "What do you mean 'there isn't a lot of time'?"

"Twilight…" Celestia began seriously. "The Summer Sun Celebration is in two days."

Twilight felt her heart drop. "Y-you don't seriously mean…?"

"There are a lot of preparations that need to be completed before that date." Princess Celestia continued, effectively avoiding Twilight's question. "For you six, you only need to focus on trying to get used to our society. You may have noticed other ponies in Canterlot have what's known as a cutie mark." Celestia gestured backwards to what appeared to be a tattoo of an artistically styled sun on her flank. "This mark appears on ponies once they discover what makes them unique from others. In more serious terms, it represents their individual role in society. For example, this sun represents both my ability and duty of bringing forth the day."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting. So, this mark represents our purpose in life? …Pardon me, but isn't that a bit fatalistic?"

Princess Celestia laughed. "Perhaps, perhaps, though it's very much up to the individual pony. I've never heard of a pony feeling their cutie mark didn't suit them."

"…Uh, guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing everybody else to look at her. "Where'd Pinkie Pie go?"

The lack of the pink pony suddenly became apparent to everyone. They looked frantically around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The sound of the door opening echoed through the room, and Pinkie came bounding up the stairs. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm back!" She announced, skipping back over to where everyone was standing. "Just this is all so exciting, I couldn't sit still, and then I got this GREAT IDEA!" She exclaimed, beaming widely. "I mean, there's so many guards out there, right? And they must get super tired of standing around all day, and they just looked so sad, so I decided to throw them a party!"

Twilight glanced anxiously over at Princess Celestia, but the white winged mare wore an entertained smile. Rarity stepped forward towards her former roommate. "You threw a party? As in, right now?"

"Well, duh! What better time is there for a party than the present, right?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily. "It only lasted a few minutes, don't worry, you didn't miss anything. It was just enough to make them smile, then I thought maybe I might be missing something, so I came back in! You didn't even notice me leave, did you? So it's okay!"

Twilight felt a need to apologize to the princess for her friend's behaviour, though Princess Celestia didn't seem offended in the slightest. "Pinkie Pie?" Celestia asked. "Did anything happen while you were outside?"

Pinkie Pie brightened considerably. "Omigosh, I almost forgot!" She turned to the side, revealing an image of three balloons – the center one being yellow, and the two on the side being blue – that had appeared on her flank.

Twilight felt her jaw drop. Was it really that easy? Twilight had absolutely no idea what her place in society was supposed to be. "Your talent is… partying?" Twilight guessed, looking at Pinkie's mark skeptically.

Pinkie Pie looked thoughtful. "My talent? Is that what that mark represents?" Apparently, Pinkie Pie had missed Celestia's lecture. "I dunno if it's partying, exactly. Partying's definitely a part of it, though!"

"What do you think your cutie mark represents, Pinkie Pie?" Princess Celestia asked with a smile.

Pinkie looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think it represents… making others smile!" She insisted with a huge grin. "I love seeing other people – or ponies – smiling! It just makes me so happy! That's why I really like throwing parties and hanging out with friends and meeting new people and singing and dancing and chocolate and cakes and - " Pinkie had to pause for a second to breathe. "And all of that stuff! Cause it makes other people happy, and what's life if you aren't happy, right?"

"Very good, Pinkie Pie." Princess Celestia praised. "As for the rest of you, don't worry. As every foal is told growing up, you'll get your cutie mark when you're ready."

"But… we only have two days!" Twilight insisted worriedly.

"Don't worry yourself, Twilight." Princess Celestia said. "For tonight, you can stay here in the castle. I'll make arrangements for you to visit your families in the morning. Spike? Will you show them to the spare bedroom? I've already set up extra beds."

"You got it!" Spike said with a salute, and he began to lead to six ponies out of the room.

…

This is my third longest chapter (only chapters 10 and 12 being longer, if I'm not mistaken). I hope it was worth the wait!

As Pinkie so helpfully pointed out in this chapter, she does a lot of things besides partying to make people happy. She works at a bakery, not a party planning business. That's why I think her talent is making other ponies happy… she dedicates her entire life to making others smile and have fun! It's beautiful when you think about it.

The definition of cutie marks is pretty broad, really… I mean, using my definition, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's purpose in life is to be a spoiled rich bitch. Which is sort of hilarious… I guess every society has to have some of those but… yeeeah. lol

…Anyhow, yeah, I don't know how I suddenly got full time hours. How will this affect updates? Hopefully it won't. I'll plan further ahead in case of surprises. See you on Tuesday! :D


	29. Chapter 29

Thanks to ganadoleader, Luna Enchantment, Stunningfire, Vivi-UndeterminedCamper, Sandstorm3D, DarkStratos, Jake-Everfree, BlackShock95, Alex Leep, rederci939, Wing Zero 032, devin43a, Alex Barkhorn, disney-hp-freak, juter4397, criketsnipa, MoneyMan538, JosephATW, iPinkNinja, and elitsama for reviewing!

Yes, it's a bit late, but it's still Tuesday (10:18pm my time… possibly even earlier your time! :3) so, technically it's not late. I know I used to update really early in the morning, but I can't do this anymore. So, expect later updates. Hopefully not THIS late, but yeah.

I don't own MLP.

…

Spike led Twilight and the others out of the large hall and onto a breathtaking series of outdoor staircases. The way they twisted in the air and connected to various large rooms was unlike anything Twilight had ever seen.

"The highest tower is the watchtower." Spike said, pointing at a room that was suspended a good couple of stories above their current location. "That's where Princess Celestia raises the sun and moon every day at dawn and dusk! She'll be raising the moon not too long from now, actually. And that room over there is the Royal Kitchen, my personal favourite." He said as he pointed upwards at another beautiful looking structure. "And of course, that big one right there is the Royal Canterlot Library; you'd like that one, Twilight."

Twilight couldn't help but mentally take note of the gigantic building. Twilight guessed it was at least twice as large as the one at Xanterlot. "So, where are you taking us again, Spike?" Twilight asked.

Spike pointed at a room at the very top of the stairs they were on. "That one! It's a guest room… we have more than one, of course, but the princess thought you would want to be together, so we fit six beds in there."

"Beds?" Twilight questioned. "Ponies sleep on beds?"

"Uh, yeah." Spike said, giving her an odd look. "What else would they sleep on? You guys slept on beds too!"

"Well, yeah." Twilight continued. "It's just, I thought horses slept standing up?"

"They do." Fluttershy quietly added. "Unless they're hurt or feel very safe."

Twilight nodded, relieved that Fluttershy the animal expert was agreeing with her. "See? I'm not crazy!" Spike rolled his eyes.

"So…" Rainbow Dash said as she flew above the group. "Are we supposed to sleep standing up on top of the bed?"

"That sounds awfully troublesome." Rarity said in a concerned tone.

"Of course not, you lie down when you sleep!" Spike explained, sounding a bit exasperated.

"On yer back?" Applejack asked, looking thoughtful. "Or yer stomach?"

"Or on your head?" Pinkie Pie asked, causing everybody to pause and shoot her a confused look. Pinkie glanced at her friends and giggled. "I tried that once. It wasn't very comfortable."

Spike groaned. "I don't know, you can figure it out once we get there!" He demanded, seeming to regret mentioning beds at all.

The conversation did nothing to ease Twilight's nerves about fitting into a new society. If something as simple as a bed could confuse them, she certainly wasn't feeling confident about the other aspects of this new world.

"Here we are!" Spike announced, pointing to the top of the staircase where the entrance to the top of a spiraling tower sat. A single unicorn guard stood in front of it.

Rarity instantly perked up. "Here? We get to stay _here?"_ She squealed, excitement evident on her face. "This is simply _gorgeous!"_

"Wait until you see the inside of it, Rarity!" Spike said in a voice that implied the room was even more beautiful on the inside. Rarity's eyes widened in anticipation.

Twilight smiled a bit as they walked up the last couple of steps. "It'll be nice to take a break, I guess…" She admitted, though didn't feel tired enough to sleep. Twilight sighed as she paused and waited for the guard to move out of the way. He didn't budge. Twilight looked up and was about to explain that the princess had sent them, but she hesitated as he started taking off his guard helmet.

Twilight recognized him immediately, but was too stunned to speak as he dipped his head downwards to affectionately embrace her. "Twilie!" He exclaimed, backing up to survey Twilight with a huge smile on his face. "The whole squadron's been telling me you've arrived! And also something about a party, I'll, uh, have to fill out a report on that later... I'm sorry I wasn't there to meet you, I have a lot of duties to cover, and I didn't know when you'd be arriving…" He paused at Twilight's lack of response. "Twilight? You remember me, don't you?"

Twilight slowly nodded. "Of course I do… it's just… wow."

"Twilight, who is this guy?" Rainbow Dash asked. The others all looked similarly confused, except for Spike, who was grinning.

"Pardon my manners," The guard said sheepishly. "My name is Shining Armor. I'm captain of the Royal Guard."

"He's my brother." Twilight added, and smiled widely at him. "I just can't believe… after all of this time…"

Shining Armor grinned and magically opened the door. "Let's catch up inside. It's starting to get dark." It was an accurate statement. Twilight glanced over to the watch tower Spike had pointed out earlier, and could see Celestia standing atop of the balcony connected to it. It was an odd thought to realize that it was still only morning back at Xanterlot.

Everybody trotted inside. Predictably, Rarity let out an excited gasp. The room was huge and circular, with a high ceiling and private bathroom (now that Twilight saw the bathroom, she realized there were a few other questions about society that she had, though she certainly wasn't about to ask them). The six beds didn't even look like cots – rather, they appeared to be full twin beds. Twilight supposed that she shouldn't be surprised in a world where magic exists.

"So…" Shining Armor said to Twilight as the others eagerly started exploring and claiming beds. "What were you saying? What can't you believe?"

Twilight shuffled a hoof in embarrassment. "I feel like we've never been apart. It's like I've known you my whole life."

Shining grinned and playfully messed up Twilight's mane. "Even if we're apart, we're still siblings. That's a bond that doesn't break easily."

Twilight laughed and pushed him away. "So what about our parents? Do they still…?" She anxiously left the question hanging. Shining Armor frowned.

"Of course they still miss you!" Shining laughed at the absurdity of the question. "Your baby pictures have practically taken over our house. I'd take you there now, but they both work at night outside of the city. They study stars and moons and stuff."

Twilight's eyes widened. "_Astronomy? _I studied a branch of astronomy while I was on Earth!" She gushed excitedly. "Wow, that's a pretty big coincidence, isn't it?"

Shining chuckled. "It's in your blood, I guess. I'm more into important things like, you know, leading an army to protect our one and only princess." He struck a dramatic rearing pose, and Twilight couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh shut up!" She joked, prodding him playfully. "I bet you just couldn't wrap your head around science!"

"As if!" He shot back with a grin. "Well whatever, I'm not the one without a cutie mark, after all."

"No fair, I just got here! Besides, I can't even see your cutie mark underneath all of that armor." Twilight was surprised at how natural it was to be around him. Not just to talk with him, but to tease and laugh with him. It really was as if they'd never been apart.

"Whatever you say, kiddo." He smirked. "But seriously, I'll be back first thing in the morning. I'll be around here all night, so just call if you need anything."

"Thanks, big brother." Twilight smiled.

"No problem, little sis." He laughed quietly. "I'm so glad you're home."

As Shining Armor departed, Twilight turned around to look at her friends. They were all either sitting or sprawled on top of one of the six beds in the room, and they all smiled as they saw her watching them.

"Yer brother seems like a mighty nice guy, Twilight!" Applejack commented. "Must be nice gettin' tah see him after all these years."

"Yeah…" Twilight said, still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole situation. It definitely wasn't a negative feeling by any means, but her mind was so worked up that she felt a change of topic was in order. "So, how are you guys? Do you think you're adjusting okay?"

Pinkie Pie jumped to her feet and bounced on the bed a couple of times. "I LOVE it here!" She exclaimed. "I loved Xanterlot too, but I mean this place has talking ponies! We _are _talking ponies! How cool is that?"

Twilight wasn't surprised that Pinkie was taking the change so well; after all, the mark on her flank was a clear sign that she was comfortable with society, no matter where they were.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Rainbow Dash agreed. "I can't wait to meet my dad tomorrow."

"I as well." Rarity stated. "I feel like I might need to teach my parents a thing or two about fashion, judging by the dreams I've had of them..."

"Yeh, it'll be interesting meeting my folks, alright." Applejack said, nodding.

Fluttershy rolled over so that she was lying on her side facing Twilight. "I'm happy, but also a little, um… nervous." She admitted with a weak smile. "What about you, Twilight?"

"Well, she's already met her brother." Rainbow pointed out.

Twilight nodded and walked over to the bed that Spike was perched on, which also happened to be the bed closest to the door. "Shining Armor told me my parents both work as astrologists." She said with an excited grin as she hopped up next to Spike. "So at least we'll have something in common."

Her friends enthusiastically agreed that Twilight would get along perfectly with her family, then they chatted absently for the next hour or so.

Eventually, Spike hopped off of the bed and stretched lightly. "I guess I should leave you guys to get some shuteye." He decided. "I'll see you in the morning before you all leave, alright?"

Everyone said their goodbyes as Spike exited. Applejack yawned. "Ah'm plum tuckered."

"Yeah, I guess it's a good thing Twilight woke us up so early." Rainbow Dash agreed as she stood up and stretched.

"Mmm, yes, you've sort of counteracted the jet lag, darling." Rarity said with a yawn that was quickly imitated by Fluttershy and even Pinkie Pie.

Twilight didn't feel tired at all, even after getting over the issue of having only one bathroom and nobody knowing how to properly use anything inside of it. Toothbrushes and other products had been left for them, though Twilight didn't understand how they were expected to use them without hands. After some awkward attempts, Twilight decided it was easier just to use magic. She wasn't sure how her friends got along without it.

Shortly after the bathroom ordeal, all six of them were curled up in bed. While the others seemed to fall asleep almost immediately, Twilight was wide awake. Thoughts about Equestria, from the physics of the world to meeting her parents for the first time in several years to Nightmare Moon's return, were plaguing her mind. Twilight recalled Spike pointing out the library to her as they ascended the steps, and the prospect of spending a bit of the night in there was becoming more appealing the more she thought about it. With a sigh, Twilight rose and exited the bedroom.

Twilight headed down the steps, and her heart sank as she came near the library. There were two pegasus guards standing in front of it; Twilight knew she should have known they would be there, but she had no plan for getting around them.

To Twilight's amazement, Princess Celestia suddenly descended in front of the guards, and after a few seconds, both of them took off into the sky. When Twilight focused her vision back on Celestia, she was smiling at her knowingly.

Twilight hurried towards the princess, who gestured for her to come inside of the library. "Trouble sleeping?" Princess Celestia asked politely.

"A bit…" Twilight admitted sheepishly as she stepped inside of the room. "I guess I have a lot on my mind… wow." She finished as she finally laid her eyes on the inside of the room. Hundreds of shelves were stacked all the way to the top of the high ceiling. Twilight was in awe. "This is amazing!"

Princess Celestia smiled. "Thank you. If there's anything you need, I'm sure you can find it in here. It's understandable to have a lot on your mind, Twilight. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Twilight pawed at the ground nervously. "I guess I'm just worried about Nightmare Moon's escape. The longest day of the thousandth year is the day after tomorrow, and you told me I'm the one who has to prevent her return, right?" Princess Celestia didn't say anything, but watched Twilight with interest. Twilight decided to continue. "So, the only things that can stop Nightmare Moon are the elements of harmony. The elements of harmony manifest physically as objects, correct? So I just need to find them and… and do something with them… Except, the sixth element… That chapter you sent me said that nobody knows of the sixth element!"

"Twilight…" Princess Celestia said seriously, causing Twilight to look up. "Please don't worry yourself over this. Especially not over the sixth element of harmony."

"What?" Twilight said, looking up at the princess with a confused expression. "But, why not?"

There was a brief silence before Celestia finally spoke. "Twilight, the sixth element of harmony was destroyed one thousand years ago."

Twilight was stunned. How was Nightmare Moon going to be stopped without all of the elements of harmony? Were they doomed? "…H-how?" Twilight whispered.

Princess Celestia bowed her head. "My sister destroyed it moments before I banished her to the moon, and she turned the others to stone. She knew of the power the elements held, and though it was too late for her to save herself from them then, she knew she was doing herself a favour in the future. My sister knows a lot about the elements, Twilight. More than even I could have expected… it was for that reason… I…" Princess Celestia shook her head, signalling that she wasn't going to continue. Twilight was silent. She didn't know what to think. "Twilight," Princess Celestia interrupted the silence. "know this: though the sixth element was physically destroyed, the power it contained was much too strong to be gone forever. The same goes for the other five as well."

Twilight immediately looked up. "So, what do I have to do?"

Princess Celestia laughed. "Look inside yourself… you'll know what to do when the time comes. Prehaps it's time for you to go and get some sleep, Twilight Sparkle. I must continue to guard the night." And with that, Princess Celestia left, leaving Twilight somehow even more confused than she was to start with.

…

I rewrote the last section a couple of times, each time with a drastically different story. I watched the second episode of the first season over, as well as reread the facts I presented in chapter 15 to try to piece it all together… I hope I made the right choice here for the plot. -_- lol

So, uh, yeah! Not much else to say. :3 Drop me a review! I love reviews! :D

See ya next week!


	30. Chapter 30

Thanks to Luna Enchantment, ganadoleader, MoneyMan538, BekasaurusRex, Stunningfire, ArtyomsChalenger, criketsnipa, Wing Zero 032, disney-hp-freak, JosephATW, MLPFTW14, rederci939, Lyra Heartstrings14, BlackShock95, Hubord68, BenRG, Alex Leep, Truebolt, , darkheart753, Sandstorm3D, The Power Of Konosetsu, Alex Barkhorn, Scarlet Rabbit, juter4397, and devin43a for reviewing!

Chapter 30, holy moly! Nearly 25000 hits and I still can't believe the number of reviews. Thank you!

I still have a few minutes until midnight, but I need to proofread. OH WELL WHATEVER, it's Tuesday somewhere, right?

I don't own MLP.

…

Twilight awoke to the sound of a door banging open and something heavy landing on her midsection. Twilight sat up and coughed desperately to regain function of her lungs. "S-Spike!" She gasped, glaring daggers at the baby dragon perched on top of her sheets.

"Sorry Twilight, it's just the princess sent me to wake you guys up!" He explained, and scanned the rest of the room, where the other five ponies were groggily starting to open their eyes. "Are you awake yet?" He asked with a grin.

"I don't remember you being such a morning dragon…" Twilight commented as she yawned and pulled herself out of bed.

Spike chuckled. "It's cause it's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration! It's tradition to sleep in, cause you have to stay up until the princess raises the sun in the morning." He announced happily. "So, come on! The princess said we can have brunch!"

…

"A daisy sandwich? Is this a joke?" Rainbow Dash asked as she prodded at the offending meal. The six of them had followed Spike to the main hall, where a buffet-style brunch had been laid out for both them and all of Celestia's guards. Spike explained it was another tradition of the Summer Sun Celebration. Unfortunately, the six newcomers were having trouble figuring out what was edible and what was a table decoration.

"Now Rainbow, don't be rude!" Rarity scolded. "If you don't want it, don't eat it." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

Twilight had decided to stick with things like fruits and pastries – things she recognized from Earth. For the most part, her friends followed suit.

Spike was eating what looked like a large sapphire. Twilight recalled him mentioning that he ate gemstones, though she wasn't sure if he was being serious at the time. Unbeknownst to Spike, Rarity was eying his breakfast with wide, intrigued eyes. Twilight smiled in amusement at the sight, but decided not to say anything.

Once everyone had eaten and most of the guards had dispersed, Princess Celestia approached all of them with a wide smile. Shining Armor stood next to her on one side, and Spike walked over to stand on her other side. "Hello again." Princess Celestia greeted. "I trust you all slept well?" She was eying Twilight in particular, who nodded sheepishly in response. "Good. I've sent letters informing your families of your return, so they'll be expecting you. I have two pegasus-drawn carriages waiting outside, and a few of my guards have so graciously offered to fly you to your destinations. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack will be going in one to Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will be in the other one headed for Cloudsdale."

"And I'll be with you, Twilie." Shining Armor said with a grin. Twilight nodded happily back.

"You'll all reunite in Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration." Princess Celestia reassured. "I'll be there as well in order to raise the sun. Does everypony understand?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you kindly." Applejack said gratefully.

"LET'S GO!" Pinkie Pie squealed, and somehow managed to pull both Applejack and Rarity behind her and out of the building.

"Yeah, us too, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash announced, and chased after the other three.

Fluttershy bowed her head slightly to Princess Celestia before leaving. "T-thank you, princess."

Princess Celestia smiled. "It's the least I can do." Fluttershy smiled, then turned to follow Rainbow.

"I guess we should go too, Twilight." Shining Armor said, stepping towards her. "The princess has a lot of preparations to complete for the celebration… so let's leave before she changes her mind about letting me have the day off." He jokingly prodded Twilight to the exit with his horn.

Princess Celestia laughed. "I'm sure my second-in-command is more than capable, Shining. You two get going."

"Bye!" Spike waved. "I'll see you later, I promise!"

…

It took a bit of coaxing to get Fluttershy onto the open-roofed golden air-carriage, but once both she and Rainbow Dash were comfortably seated, the two pegasus guards took off with a flurry of white feathers.

"Oh my gosh, this is _insane!" _Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she peered over the side of the carriage. She'd never been in an airplane before, and they were soon soaring higher than she'd ever dared to fly. The speed they were travelling at created a decent breeze that tugged at Rainbow's mane and tail. A huge part of Rainbow wanted to leap off and fly alongside the guards and amongst the puffy clouds and heavenly blue sky. She twitched her cyan wings longingly, but instead turned to the butter-yellow pegasus who was sharing the carriage with her.

Contrasting heavily with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy was curled into a trembling ball on the floor with her eyes shut tightly. Rainbow frowned and prodded at her friend. "Fluttershy? Fluttershy, c'mon, it's not scary! It's really cool, just look at how high we are!"

Fluttershy opened one eye for a split second to focus on Rainbow Dash, then immediately shut it again. "N-n-n-no t-thanks." She squeaked.

Rainbow sat beside Fluttershy, looking stumped. "Why not?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"I-I-I… I don't … don't like heights…"

"But…" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "You have wings for crying out loud!"

"I don't know how to fly, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy insisted, her eyes still squeezed tightly shut. "I'd fall."

"No you wouldn't." Rainbow argued.

"Y-yes I would!" A note of hysteria crept into Fluttershy's tone.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "There's no way you'd ever fall, cause I'd fly down and catch you if you ever tried."

Fluttershy's eyes slowly opened in confusion. "You… you would?"

"Duh, I just said that." Rainbow smirked. "What, you thought I'd let you fall? I'm always there for my friends, right?"

"I know…" Fluttershy agreed with a small frown, her body language still shouting that she had no intention of standing up while the carriage was in motion.

…

It was a short trip to Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash recognized the floating city instantly, and jumped excitedly onto the clouds. "Thanks guys!" She said cheerfully to the guards, who stood stoically in front of the carriage. "Not that I really needed a lift or anything, but I'm sure Fluttershy… wait…" Rainbow's head whipped around, and she spotted Fluttershy's teal eyes peering fearfully over the side of the carriage. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Come on, we've landed already!"

"That's not land…" Fluttershy meekly argued. Her yellow ears flattened anxiously as she looked skeptically at the cloudy ground.

Rainbow sighed and rose into the air. "C'mon, it's _fine." _Rainbow insisted, then flew over and gave Fluttershy a push towards the open-ended back. That was all it took for Fluttershy to tumble out, then give a cry of terror and scatter as far away from the edge of Cloudsdale as possible. "See? You're fine!" Rainbow said with a nod of approval.

Fluttershy gave a tiny wide-eyed nod back, and Rainbow Dash flew to stand next to her. One of the guards cleared his throat. "We'll be back in the late afternoon. Meet us around this area. We'll take you to Ponyville to celebrate the annual Summer Sun Celebration."

"Okay, catch ya later, I guess." Rainbow said as the two guards flew into the sky again. Rainbow Dash glanced at Fluttershy. "Do you know where you're going?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, and I can walk there. I remember it here…"

"Me too!" Rainbow agreed. "So, I'll meet you back here later?"

Fluttershy nodded, and the two said their goodbyes and well wishes then headed in separate directions.

…

Rainbow Dash couldn't explain how she knew exactly where to fly. To her, it felt more like a homing instinct than actually knowing where she was.

Eventually, her sense of direction came to a blank. For a moment, she feared she was lost, but as her eyes landed on the black-maned cobalt stallion she had always seen in her dreams, she knew she had come to the right place.

He was standing outside of a small house made of clouds, and it was a few seconds after Rainbow spotted him that he saw her as well. He looked absolutely stunned.

With a few flaps of her cyan wings, Rainbow landed in front of him. "D-Dad?" She asked nervously. She felt his neck wrap around hers.

"Rainbow… oh thank Celestia…" He broke away from her, smiling widely. "They told me you were coming. You… you've sure grown up…" He said, a note of sadness in his voice.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, that's what a decade and a half'll do to ya." She said, pawing the ground nervously.

The cobalt stallion turned and opened the door to his house. "Well, come in! And don't feel like you have to call me "Dad", Rainbow. "Stormcloud" is fine. I understand."

"No way, Dad." Rainbow said with a grin. Stormcloud looked relieved.

"Well, make yourself at home…" He said. "Can I get you anything? Uh, tea? Do you like tea?" Rainbow Dash hesitated. "Good, me neither." Stormcloud said with a brief laugh.

Rainbow trotted around the familiar residence, and paused at a picture display on an end table. It was odd seeing pictures of herself as a foal. In several of the photos, she was posing with her father. The largest photograph was one of Stormcloud and a bright green mare with a flowing white mane and Rainbow's magenta eyes.

"You were a really energetic foal…" Stormcloud said, coming behind her. "You haven't changed, have you?"

"Not a chance."

Stormcloud smiled. "That's what I like to hear. I've missed you so much… This is kind of surreal. How… how have you been? Did the other world treat you well?"

"Y-yeah, of course." Rainbow said quickly. She didn't feel like ruining the moment with stories from her past. She figured it would make him feel worse. "What about you? What do ponies do for a living?"

"Depends on the pony. I'm on the weather patrol." He gestured backwards to his cutie mark, which was fittingly a raining dark grey storm cloud. "I'm in charge of the section that controls clouds for rain and minor storms… Your mother was in charge before I was."

Rainbow's ears perked slightly. "She… she was?"

Stormcloud nodded. "That's where we met..." Rainbow noticed him steal a glance at the largest picture on the end table.

"What happened to her?" Rainbow asked in a voice so low it was nearly a whisper.

Stormcloud closed his eyes. "There was an accident at the weather factory… a tornado got loose. The entire rain and storm sector was called in. She was pregnant with you at the time, so naturally she promised me she'd stay behind…" He opened his eyes and stole a glance at Rainbow Dash. "Dash was headstrong. Beautiful, passionate, and headstrong, and I loved her for it. She knew how to deal with tornados, and when we failed to stop it, she… she overestimated her abilities and underestimated the tornado's strength. She was thrown out of it before I'd even realized she'd gone into it. She died minutes later from a head injury."

There was a brief silence as Stormcloud looked down. Rainbow hesitated. "I-I'm so sorry…"

Stormcloud shook his head. "You lost a mother, Rainbow. You don't have to be sorry for me."

Something suddenly occurred to Rainbow Dash. "But wait… if she was pregnant with me when she died, then shouldn't that mean…?"

"Right." Stormcloud cleared his throat. "There were a lot of well-trained fliers around that day. At that point it was too late for Dash, but we rushed her to the emergency room all the same. My memory of that day is a bit… fuzzy. I guess I blocked a lot of it out. I remember a doctor telling me there was almost no hope for the foal, but they'd try everything they could." He frowned. "I thought I'd lost everything. Then they told me my daughter was alive, but unlikely to make it through the night. You were born four months early, so I suppose they didn't want to be optimistic.

I… I remember seeing you for the first time. It was hard, because I didn't think you'd make it… I'd never seen anything so tiny, and every inch of you was hooked up to one medical device or another… but the moment I laid my eyes on you, you opened your eyes too. Your beautiful, magenta eyes… just like Dash…" His voice broke and he pointed to the photo again. "I named you after her – her full name was Rain Dasher, but everyone called her Dash. And your mane – the doctors said it was some sort of side effect from being born before your colours could settle correctly – well, the other half of your name came easily. For Dash and I, rainbows were a sign of good luck. I knew you'd make it. I knew you were a fighter, just like Dash – and guess what? Here you are." He smiled.

"And after all of that, I left you." Rainbow Dash said quietly, and hung her head. Stormcloud sighed and gently put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Rainbow, you have no idea how hard it was for me to allow the princess to take you away… I… I felt like a failure as a father. But neither of us had a choice in the issue; she said Equestria would be in grave danger if you grew up here."

"Grave danger?" Rainbow Dash tipped her head.

Stormcloud shrugged. "Dunno. She wouldn't even give specifics. I was furious at our government for years. Still am, really."

Rainbow frowned. "Well, I'm back now, right?"

"Yup." Stormcloud grinned. "You can fly, right? I dunno if you remember… You'd finally gotten the hang of it right before you were taken. Your pediatrician was shocked that you managed it with those tiny little wings of yours." He chuckled. "I wasn't surprised."

"Of course I can fly!" Rainbow said, and started hovering in the air for emphasis.

"Then let's go fly together. I'll show you how to do tricks the Wonderbolts would be envious of. I'll show you how to move clouds. Everything I dreamed of doing with you, but never got the chance."

"Okay, Dad." Rainbow agreed, and with a grin at each other, simultaneously raced out the door.

…

So, that's that. It helped that I already had Rainbow's backstory written from that unpublished/ unfinished Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy backstory fic that I mentioned earlier. (I just realized… major spoilers if I ever get around to publishing it… LOL) The others probably won't get nearly an entire chapter to themselves, so I can finish them all before I get back to school…

Speaking of which, I'll be there three weeks from now. I don't know how updates will work, I mean, school comes first and social life comes second. I think updating this fic comes before eating and sleeping though, so at least we have that going for us! : D

So um, read and review! Please and thanks. :3


	31. Chapter 31

Thanks to Jake-Everfree, Alex Leep, criketsnipa, disney-hp-freak, Wing Zero 032, ganadoleader, Stunningfire, iPinkNinja, rederci939, RedPhoenix21, ARC Trooper Commander Delta, MLPFTW14, Hubord68, Scarlet Rabbit, JosephATW, MoneyMan538, The Power of Konosetsu, Raven, and darkheart753 for reviewing! OVER 400 REVIEWS AHH. That's such a big number! My mind can barely comprehend it… whew, well, thank you very much. You guys are way too awesome. ;-;

I really need to get out of the habit of posting chapters at the very last minute. I'm a huge procrastinator, but this fic is actually helping. Sorry. D:

And… I don't own MLP!

…

"Wheeee! Look how high we are; I can almost touch the clouds! What do you think clouds feel like? I mean, on earth they were all like wet and stuff, but do you think clouds in Equestria are any different? I think they are 'cause if you look over there you can see a pony with wings moving a cloud and how can you move something that's all watery? I mean, you'd get all wet and that's only fun if you're having a water balloon fight… do you think they have water balloons in Equestria? …I really hope they - "

"PINKIE!" Rarity and Applejack simultaneously yelled. The pegasus guards pulling their air-carriage sighed in relief as Pinkie paused in her banter.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Oopsies… I'm just so excited to be up so high! It's so fun!"

Applejack chuckled at her pink friend. "Ah suppose the excitement is warrented, right Rarity?"

"Well, I suppose so…" Rarity agreed as she looked at the clouds. "This really is quite something."

"I think we're going down!" Pinkie Pie squealed in excitement as the carriage descended past all of the clouds in the sky, and headed towards a rather bleak looking stretch of land. The rocky area was almost completely devoid of any plant life.

"Hrm…" Applejack looked at the ground skeptically. "Looks pretty barren. Ah remember havin' a farm with lotsa trees and green grass…"

"Yes, I certainly don't remember anything like this." Rarity agreed, looking confused. "I think we're in the wrong place, good sirs." She said to the two guards.

"No…" Pinkie Pie said in a low tone as they landed upon the dull earth. Her excitement was noticeably depleted. "This is it… this is home." She hopped off of the carriage and looked around. She sighed sadly. "Just like I remember it…"

Applejack and Rarity shared a worried look. "Ya sure, sugercube?" Applejack asked. Pinkie Pie only nodded.

"Are you alright, Pinkie?" Rarity asked.

Pinkie hesitated. "I… yeah." She smiled again. "I'm totally fine… I-I guess I was expecting too much." She giggled. "But that's okay! I'm sure they'll liven up when they see me… right?" She turned her head towards a tiny worn-down shack. "Yeah! If anyone can make them smile, it's me!"

"Ya got that right, Pinks." Applejack laughed.

The guards glanced backwards at Pinkie Pie. "We'll come back to pick you up later in the day." They shifted their gaze towards Applejack and Rarity. "You two stay in the carriage. We'll be taking off again in a moment."

As the carriage lifted into the air again, Pinkie waved at her two friends until they were out of sight. She then took a deep breath. "Okay Pinkie, you can do this!" She said to herself with a determined expression on her face. "…Pinkie Pie style!"

As she started skipping towards the run-down house, the door creaked open, and a familiar figure came out of it. It was neither of her parents, but rather, one of her sisters. She looked absolutely shell-shocked.

Pinkie Pie gasped in excitement. "Blinkie!" She exclaimed, quickly closing the gap between her and her sister and enclosing her in a hug. "Gosh, you look just like I remember." Pinkie said with a smile. It was hard to tell that the two ponies were even related, let alone two from a set of triplets. Blinkie had a coat that was somewhere between grey and purple, and a straight mane that was plain old grey. Her brown eyes bore into Pinkie's blue ones, seeming uncertain of what to say.

"Pinkamena…?" She asked carefully. "I-is that really you?"

"Gee, I haven't been called that in ages." Pinkie giggled. "Just call me Pinkie! And of _course _it's me! Don't you remember me?" She asked lightheartedly.

"I guess…" Blinkie said, shuffling a hoof awkwardly.

Pinkie Pie took a second to peer at the house. "Where's Mom and Dad? Where's Inkie?" Pinkie asked with a grin. "Aren't they excited to see me?"

Blinkie hesitated. "Inkie? You mean Inkanya?"

"Duh!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How many Inkies do you know besides your own sister?" She giggled.

Blinkie surveyed Pinkie seriously. "I… I don't remember you that well, Pinkie, if I could be honest."

Pinkie continued to smile. "Oh, well that's okay! We have loads of time to catch up, right?"

Blinkie nodded slowly. "I guess." Her eyes drifted slowly to Pinkie's cutie mark. "…What is your cutie mark supposed to be?" She asked, seeming genuinely confused.

Pinkie glanced backwards. "They're balloons, silly!" She smiled. "It represents how I love to make people smile!"

"Balloons…" Blinkie mused, looking slightly confused. Pinkie curiously noted that her sister's cutie mark was a small pile of rocks.

"Rocks are fun too; I remember how much fun we had when we were little with them!" Pinkie said excitedly. It was a lie; Pinkie Pie had always disliked the rock farm, but she was willing to do anything to connect with her sister at this point.

"Really?" Blinkie asked, looking surprised. "I guess Mom and Dad will be happy to hear that, even if your cutie mark is weird."

Pinkie's smile faltered for a moment. "Why do you think my cutie mark is weird?" She asked, trying to sound politely curious.

"It's… it's not, I guess. Sorry." She looked into the distance for a few moments. "It's just Inkanya's cutie mark also had nothing to do with rocks… so she left to pursue her dream. Mom and Dad were really upset with her. It's been tough being their only kid… but someone has to look after the rocks." She looked forlornly at the rocky fields outside their home. "I guess that someone is me."

"You guess too much!" Pinkie giggled. "I think you should do whatever makes you happy, just like Inkie… or, Inkanya. Whatever she likes to be called." Pinkie said happily.

Blinkie sighed. "She doesn't go by either of those names anymore. She adopted a stage name to go with her cutie mark."

"What is it? What's her name?" Pinkie asked.

"Octavia…"

Pinkie looked thoughtful. "Her cutie mark's an octopus?"

"N-no." Blinkie looked confused. "It's a… a treble clef. You know, like an octave; her talent is music related. I guess she's still playing the cello… I haven't heard from her in a long time."

"Oh." Pinkie drooped a little. "I guess that's been really hard on the family, huh?"

Blinkie nodded and closed her eyes. "Especially with you gone… Mom and Dad felt like they lost two kids. I'm all they have."

"Not anymore…" Pinkie Pie perked up, a glint in her eye. "Hey, I have an idea! They don't know I'm here yet, right? We should throw a 'welcome home Pinkie Pie' party! It'll be a party for them though, not me; I'm just the excuse to throw a party." Pinkie Pie beamed. "It'll be super fun! Where's the nearest party store?"

"Party… store?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "I bet there's one in Ponyville, is that far from here?"

"No…" Blinkie looked uncertain. "It's walkable from here." Blinkie pointed to where Pinkie could see Ponyville peeking out from behind a cliff. "We don't go to town very often, though."

"Well, now's the perfect time! Come on, it won't take long!" Pinkie exclaimed, and dragged her overwhelmed-looking sister behind her.

…

The guards had dropped Applejack off at the entrance to an apple farm, gave her directions to the town square for the Summer Sun Celebration , then left to drop off Rarity.

Applejack walked down a path between the apple trees. She knew that if she followed the path, she would eventually find her way to the farmhouse.

A dog's barking caused Applejack to hesitate. What appeared to be a brown and white border collie appeared on the path, barking and growling viciously. Applejack took a hesitant step backwards. "Whoa there, little doggie…" She said slowly, but the dog wouldn't let up.

"Winona! What're y'doin' girl, get back here!" A young girl's voice yelled in a familiar accent. A small yellow filly with a red mane done up in a pink bow came rushing up the path. She stopped short upon seeing Applejack, and glanced between her and Winona. "Who… who're you?" She asked carefully, tipping her head. The brown and white collie sat dutifully by her side, eying Applejack suspiciously.

"Mah name's Applejack. Ah didn't mean to trespass or nothin'… Ah thought the princess told y'all Ah was comin'." Applejack explained quickly.

The filly's face slowly broke into a grin. "Oh… Ohhhh!" She said happily. "Well, mah name's Apple Bloom. Ah'm your sister!" She giggled at the surprised look on Applejack's face. She gestured to the dog sitting beside her. "And this here's Winona. She's a mite protective, sorry about that. She'll be good now that she knows you won't hurt me. Right, girl?" Winona wagged her tail and barked as if agreeing.

"Well, it's a pleasure t'meet ya…" Applejack said, looking up the path. "D'ya think you could lead me to the rest of the family?"

"Yeah, sure…" Apple Bloom said, smiling. As Applejack trotted over to walk beside her, Apple Bloom let out a large gasp that caused Applejack to flinch. "You don't have a cutie mark either!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, pointing to Applejack's flank. "That's so cool! Maybe you could join the crusaders! Gee, I hope it doesn't take me as long to get my mark." Apple Bloom exclaimed with wide eyes.

Applejack sighed. "Ah… Ah just got here."

"Oh… right." Apple Bloom smiled apologetically.

The two continued in relative silence until they reached the outside of the house, where a very old green pony was napping in what appeared to be a rocking chair.

"This is Granny Smith!" Apple Bloom introduced. The old pony didn't wake up. "_Granny!" _Apple Bloom yelled, but she still refused to open her eyes. "GRANNY SMITH!"

"W-w-whazzat?" Granny Smith opened her eyes and blearily focused on Applejack. "Oh, Applejack, dearie! It's been weeks since Ah last saw you!"

Applejack looked confused. "It's been years, Granny, but it's good to see you again." Applejack's memories of her grandmother were rather faint, though she remembered her looking exactly the same as she did now.

"Oh… oh right." Granny Smith smiled. "Time flies when yer old like me… time flies… your parents would have been proud of you."

Applejack froze. "W-would?"

Granny Smith turned to Apple Bloom. "Show her the photo album, dearie… It's time for my afternoon nap." With that, the old pony fell asleep.

"You got it, Granny!" Apple Bloom saluted her, then dragged Applejack into the house.

"So…" Applejack started with hesitation. "My parents… our parents… they're still around, right?"

Apple Bloom frowned, causing Applejack's heart to clench. "Ah'm real sorry…" Apple Bloom's small ears flattened. "Ah've never met 'em either. Dad died before Ah was born, and Mum died shortly after Ah arrived."

Applejack bowed her head. "Ah… Ah understand. You shouldn't have had to be the one tah tell me that…" She had been looking forward to meeting her real parents, and to know she'd never be able to was heartbreaking. Of course, she already had a mother; a wonderful mother. In a way, she felt worse for the little filly she had only just met who would never get to experience a parent's love the way she had.

Apple Bloom, who had run off while Applejack was distracted with her thoughts, came back and tossed a photo album in front of her. It flipped open to a page with two familiar ponies in front of the same house they stood inside of.

The mare was red with green eyes and a flowing orange and yellow mane. The stallion was the spitting image of Apple Bloom in colt form, right down to the orange eyes. He wore a cowboy hat atop his head. "Mum and Dad." Apple Bloom explained. "Dad looks a lot like me, right? Granny always said Ah'm his… 'in-ker-nate'."

Applejack smiled and didn't correct her. "Must've been hard growing up without 'em…" She commented.

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Nah, Ah've got Granny and Big Mac, and loads of extended family members tah take care of me." Apple Bloom grinned. "Speaking of Big Mac… he's out in the fields. You can go see him if ya'd like, but he's real shy. Don't be offended if he doesn't talk much."

Applejack followed Apple Bloom's instructions into the back fields where she finally saw her brother. Of all of her memories from her foalhood, he was the most prominent figure in them. She had looked up to him. Even now she was impressed as he kicked an apple tree hard enough to knock every single apple off of it.

She didn't have to say anything; he seemed to sense she was there, and turned around. For a few moments, they simply looked at each other. Applejack opened her mouth to break the silence, but hesitated as she saw tears leaking from her older brother's eyes.

Big Mac galloped over to Applejack and tightly embraced her. "Ah've missed you… Ah've missed you so much…" Applejack returned the gesture immediately. She finally cracked a smile, and felt that maybe this new world wouldn't be so difficult to fit back into after all.

…

D'awws.

I know the Inkie/ Octavia thing is controversial, but whatever. I think it's cute. :3

If Applejack seemed a touch ooc to you: that's good, because she was supposed to be.

I'll get to the last three girls next chapter! I like doing these backstories… it's sort of like a fanfiction within a fanfiction. Uh, the plot will continue later.

For now, care to share some thoughts with me? Comments, queries, and other things of that nature? Feel free; I'll love you for it! And I'll reply to you because I like doing that. ; D


	32. Chapter 32

Thanks to rederci939, Jake-Everfree, Wing Zero 032, Stunningfire, ganadoleader, criketsnipa, JosephATW, Guest, BlackShock95, RedPhoenix32, darkheart753, AJ, Truebolt, BekasaurusRex, juter4397, Alex Leep, MoneyMan538, Scarlet Rabbit, Alex Barkhorn, Sandstorm3D, Timon64, iPinkNinja, Hubord68, Neon Pulsion, devin43a, elitsama, AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, AllisonHeartsEverything, and Ana121 for reviewing since I posted the last chapter!

I'm so sorry for taking a three week break. I worked like nine days in a row and then moved back to school. It was exciting! But stressful.

I don't own MLP. :c

…

Fluttershy treaded carefully along the fluffy white ground of Cloudsdale. She felt a bit out of sorts watching the rest of the population fly by her, but certainly wasn't about to try copying them. The yellow pegasus was starting to wish that she had asked Rainbow Dash to accompany her. She remembered how Rainbow promised to save her if she fell off of the edge, and trembled at the thought of being so close to death.

Lost in her worries, she nearly walked straight into the wall of her destination: a large building made out of clouds. A large sign on the top of it declared it to be "Hazel Starr's Home for Orphaned Pegasi".

Fluttershy wasn't sure whether or not to enter. After all, it wasn't her family that lived inside of it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember her real parents. Yet, the dreams she had of this building were all positive and loving. They treated her like a daughter rather than a temporary orphan. Fluttershy was still uncertain whether they would feel the same way after so many years. After taking a moment to gather her courage, she closed her eyes and pushed her way through the door.

It was noisy with the sound of young foals giggling and playing, just like she remembered. She slowly opened her eyes to find three ponies staring at her. She instantly recognized two of them, though both were older than she remembered. The first, Hazel, was a heavier rose-coloured mare. Her mane was greying, and she was squinting through glasses with rectangular frames. The second was Violet. As her name suggested, she was a deep-purple in colour and had a short blue mane. She was no longer a teenager, but a fully-fledged adult.

The third pony was just a young filly with an orange coat and purple mane. Though clearly still a child, she appeared to be one of the oldest foals in the home. Her violet eyes scanned Fluttershy for a few moments before she gained an annoyed expression and turned her back.

"Fluttershy?" The yellow mare turned at the sound of her name, and saw Violet watching her with a huge grin. "It's really you, isn't it? I can't believe it!" Before Fluttershy knew what was happening, Violet had engulfed her in a hug.

"Oh my Celestia…" Hazel gave a watery-eyed smile. "You came back to us!"

"Y-you remember me?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"Of _course_ I remember you! You're my little sister." Violet said happily.

Fluttershy frowned. "I… I'm not though."

Violet sighed. "Not _officially, _but I always thought of you as one, and I still do." Fluttershy looked confused.

"I don't know how much you remember, sweetheart," Hazel started, "But you were brought to us when you were just a newborn. It took you a while to warm up to us, but once you had there was no way you'd even make eye contact with any other prospective parents!" Hazel chuckled. "And we grew closer and closer to you too. I have to admit, I didn't think it was good for you."

"Mum used to scold me when I called you my sister." Violet recalled.

Hazel nodded. "We wanted you to have the best possible home, and I didn't think it would be here. I was worried you'd feel unwanted, though the opposite was true." She sighed. "It wasn't until I felt absolutely certain you were already part of our family that I started filling out the paperwork, but then Princess Celestia came and… well, I figured that was that… I-I still have the documents, but they weren't able to be processed."

"We can change that!" Violet reassured. "And you can stay here for as long as you need to!"

Fluttershy gave a small smile. "You're very kind."

Hazel smiled back. "If there's anything at all you need, dear, don't hesitate to let us know."

"Why was she abandoned?" A young voice suddenly blurted out. All three of the grown ponies turn to look at the orange filly that Fluttershy had noticed when she first walked in.

"Scootaloo!" Hazel scolded. "Mind your manners!" She gave an exasperated sigh as Scootaloo looked defiantly away.

"I was just asking…" Scootaloo muttered.

Fluttershy was looking politely curious, so Hazel decided to answer the filly's question anyways. "I have no idea who your parents are, Fluttershy. You were left on our doorstep as a newborn… I can still remember that morning, you poor little thing…"

"So, just like me." Scootaloo said bitterly.

Hazel nodded slowly. "It's unfortunately rather common." She explained to Fluttershy. "Abortion is illegal in most places, Cloudsdale included, and giving up a foal willingly is very taboo."

Scootaloo looked angrily at the ground, then trotted out of the room.

Violet watched the orange filly go with a frown. "Should I go talk to her?"

Hazel shook her head. "No, give the dear a few minutes to herself. I'm very sorry about that, Fluttershy."

"Oh, that's okay." Fluttershy said, looking concerned. "She seemed very upset."

"Yes…" Hazel frowned. "The poor thing's had such a rough life. On top of being an orphan, she was diagnosed with a magical wing disorder when she was a few years old."

"Most pegasus ponies use magic involuntarily when they fly or walk on clouds… Scootaloo can only do the walking on clouds part; she'll never be able to fly." Violet explained.

Hazel nodded. "She wasn't able to keep up properly in the Cloudsdale schools because of the flying required, so every day I fly her down to Ponyville for her classes. She has two close friends down there, and I'm trying my best to find an earth pony couple to adopt her, but it's not going well."

"We won't give up, though." Violet reassured with a smile. "We never give up on our foals, you included, Fluttershy. I thought about you every single day… I'm so glad you're okay."

Fluttershy gave a tiny smile. "Thank you…" She said quietly, blushing at their kindness.

Hazel smiled back as she trotted across the room to sit with a few of the tiny foals who quickly looked away from their toys to jump at Hazel for a hug. "No need to thank us; that's what a family does." She cuddled two small pegasi foals as she glanced over at the hallway Scootaloo had disappeared down. "Now, Violet, why don't you go take Scootaloo and give Fluttershy a tour of Cloudsdale? I'm sure she'll respond well to some fresh air. I'll stay here with the little ones."

Violet grinned. "If you're sure you can handle them by yourself, then that sounds like a great idea!" Scootaloo's head suddenly peeked around the corner; apparently she had been eavesdropping, as she looked intrigued. "Okay guys, let's go!"

…

The royal pegasus guards made one final stop at a small home in Ponyville. As Rarity hopped out of the carriage, she surveyed the building's bright mixture of blue and pink paint with skeptical eyes. "A-are you quite sure this is the right place?" Rarity asked, looking worried.

"Yes ma'am. Town Hall isn't far from here. If you get lost, ask somepony for directions." One of the two guards answered before both stallions kicked off from the ground and soared back in the direction of Canterlot.

"O-oh, wait! Oh, goodness…" Rarity sighed as they flew out of sight, then turned uncertainly towards the door of what was apparently her family's residence.

Her pony family, anyways.

Rarity hesitated, a sudden rush of homesickness nearly overwhelming her. Whoever lived here certainly couldn't replace her parents or her brother, though she still hoped she could feel some sort of nostalgic connection to these ponies.

Rarity was startled out of her thoughts as the door suddenly burst open in front of her, and two very happy unicorns wrapped her in a hug. "Oh Rarity, you're finally home! Magnum, can you believe it?! Our little Rarity, finally home!" The mare screeched in delight.

"She sure is!" Magnum replied with a grin. "Arencha excited to see us, kiddo?"

"Oh, I know I am!" Pearl said in delight.

Rarity carefully untangled herself from their grasp and surveyed the ponies uncertainly. Rarity could see the resemblance immediately; she had her father's coat, her mother's mane, and apparently both of their eyes, but the connection still wasn't there. She was expecting to feel some sort of immediate bond, but instead found herself desperately wishing she was home.

Magnum and Pearl glanced at each other quickly, obviously concerned by their daughter's behaviour. "Rarity? Are you alright?" Pearl asked carefully.

Rarity forced a smile and nodded. "O-of course… it's just a bit, um, o-overwhelming." Rarity explained quickly. It wasn't a lie.

"Well, that makes sense!" Magnum nodded.

"Would you like to come inside, dear?" Pearl asked with a smile. "I could make tea?"

"I-I…" Rarity diverted her gaze downwards as tears filled her eyes. Home. She wanted to be home, and this wasn't home at all. "That sounds… marvelous, but I need some a-air first." As she turned away, she just barely made out the head of a filly poking curiously between her parents' legs.

"Oh Magnum, she's so happy to see us that she's crying!" Rarity heard Pearl say in delight. Rarity was at least reassured that she had gotten off scot-free, but as she walked away she sighed in frustration.

Rarity could remember that house and her pony parents before now, but it was a memory so faint it was hard to tell whether it was a dream or a reality. Of course, she'd always thought it was a dream until now. It was wonderful and amazing to be in Equestria, and something about it did seem almost right, like she was meant to be here. In any case, the culture shock was still there, and all she wanted to do now was go home. "If only I could…" She murmured sadly.

"Could what?"

Rarity sighed. "Go home… w-wait a moment." Rarity whirled around to spy a small unicorn filly. The resemblance the filly had to Rarity was undeniable, with the only differences being the newcomer had green eyes and a bit of pink in her mane.

The filly tipped her head. "But… you _are _home!" She argued, looking confused.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "And you are…?"

The filly gave her an odd look. "I'm home too. At least, not too far from it."

It took Rarity a moment to realize she had been misunderstood. "I-I mean, what's your name? Pardon my rudeness, you just surprised me is all. My name's Rarity."

"Ohhh!" The filly beamed. "I already know your name; we're sisters, after all! My name's Sweetie Be-!"

"Sisters!" Rarity interrupted in her surprise, although the resemblance had already hinted at this revelation. She wasn't sure she could deal with more non-human family at the moment. "I'm sorry Sweetie… erm, Sweetie Bot, was it? Perhaps you should go and - "

"_Belle!"_

"…I beg your pardon?"

The filly looked annoyed. "It's Sweetie _Belle!_ And I've been waiting for you for a long time. The least you could do is get my name right!"

Rarity blinked and tried to grasp the situation fully. "You've been waiting for me? You can't possibly remember me, sweetheart, you're much too - "

"_SWEETIE BELLE! _Not _'Sweetie Heart!'" _

"Sweetie… erm, Sweetie Belle, don't be silly, that's just a term of endearment!"

Sweetie Belle scowled. "Mom and Dad always said our family would be complete when you came back. They said you were like… like a piece missing from their heart, and mine too, and until you came back, our family wouldn't be whole!" Sweetie Belle said, still sounding upset. "But I don't even know what 'endearment' means! Maybe… maybe I should leave you alone like mom told me to."

Rarity watched in disbelief as the white foal turned and started walking dejectedly away. Had their parents really said that about her? It made her feel like a part of something, rather than a newcomer in a foreign world. A part of a family. "S-Sweetie Belle…" She said softly, rushing over and hugging her as soon as she paused in her step. "I'm so sorry. This isn't just about me, after all."

Sweetie Belle slowly smiled. "I always wanted a big sister." She commented quietly, which just about melted Rarity's heart.

"I… I'll be the best big sister I can be." Rarity decided out loud. No, it wouldn't happen right then or overnight, but she knew that she could try. She knew she could make this work if she opened her heart and her mind to the idea of having two families. Sweetie Belle hugging her back was all the proof she needed.

…

Special thanks to Wing Zero 032 for the suggestion to make Rarity screw up Sweetie Belle's name. Hehe.

I decided I'd end it off here instead of making you wait another twenty-four hours for the two hundred words that Twilight's was supposed to be. Yes, it would take me a good hour to write that. I'm serious. Also this means another two hours of reading for me tomorrow for putting it off so… hopefully it's worth it to you guys, cause I'm gonna regret this in the morning!

I'm sorry if my writing seems rough at all. I've been doing a lot of reading (anywhere between 3-5 hours of reading a day. All boring too), and not a lot of writing. D: Usually my eyes can't stand that much reading, but so far so good.

I've heard that Scootaloo was originally designed by Lauren Faust to be handicapped and unable to fly. This would conflict with her dream of being just like Rainbow Dash, and is a really cool concept. And my icon Sweetie Belle finally made an adorably naïve appearance!

Oh, and lol at all of you gullible people who thought I was letting Fluttershy off easy before.

…Love you guys. ;D Hehe.

Remember, CHECK MY PROFILE for information regarding updates. Or just PM me like half of you did, honestly it doesn't matter. The profile thing seems easier though. xD I don't know about next week… y'know what they say about university: Good grades. Social life. Sleep. Pick two out of three.

Good thing I don't need sleep. No seriously, I've been getting… what? Three hours a night? And no coffee. YAY!

Until next week, mind dropping me a review? I mean, I've been kind of lacking in reviews lately. (disclaimer: that was a joke). I appreciate it a lot!


	33. Chapter 33

Thanks to AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Wing Zero 032, JosephATW, Jake-Everfree, iPinkieNinja, Ana121, BekasaurusRex, devin43a, MoneyMan538, Vivi-UndeterminedCampter, rederci939, Sonicsmash4, Guest, criketsnipa, BlackShock95, Truebolt, and juter4397 for their reviews!

Sorry for the slight delay. I was really sick yesterday and couldn't get around to finishing it until right now.

I don't own MLP!

…

As she followed her brother, Twilight felt her emotions swirling between a mix of happiness, anxiety, and excitement. "Do you think they'll like me?" Twilight asked in a worried tone.

Shining Armor laughed. "Twilight, they already love you. Why wouldn't they?"

Twilight groaned. "I don't know, maybe I didn't turn out the way they envisioned me turning out… or, something like that." She sighed.

Shining didn't laugh this time, but he still couldn't help but smile. "Well, you're already what I remember my little sis as." He nudged her playfully, causing Twilight to smile a little. "See? You know they'll love you."

"You really think so?" Twilight asked hopefully.

Shining chuckled. "Well, we're about to find out, because this is our home." He led Twilight up a small set of stairs to the entrance. The house itself wasn't located too far from the palace, but it was still on the outskirts of the city. Twilight noted it was in a good position for stargazing.

As Shining opened the door, both of their parents were waiting. And as soon as Twilight saw their smiling and slightly teary faces, all of her worries washed away, and she rushed to embrace them.

"Mom! Dad!" Twilight exclaimed joyfully.

"Welcome home, Twilight." Her father said with a slightly shaky tone. "Welcome home."

…

Fluttershy followed Violet and Scootaloo out of the orphanage and along a rather secluded stretch of cloud. A few pegasi occasionally flew by (more than once, they called out greetings to Violet, who returned them cheerfully), but other than that it was a peaceful walk.

"So, Fluttershy," Violet said, turning to the yellow pony. "What was the other world like? Was it a lot like here?"

Fluttershy gave a small smile. "Earth was a little bit like here, but ponies couldn't talk. I was a human instead. Um, do you know what that is?"

"Sorta." Violet replied uncertainly. "They don't exist here, but I remember the Princess telling me about them. She said they were creatures that were hairless except for their mane, and they walked on two legs."

Scootaloo gave a grimace. "That's so weird."

Fluttershy giggled. "I guess it is a little weird."

Violet grinned. "Anyways, we're almost near the town. C'mon Scoots, get on my back and I'll fly ya to the other side." Scootaloo hopped swiftly onto Violet's back, and the deep purple pegasus pony leapt into the air with a large sweep of her wings.

Only when Violet landed again did Fluttershy notice that Violet and Scootaloo had actually just crossed a large gap in the clouds. She immediately stopped in her tracks, then took a few terrified steps backwards.

"Fluuuttershy!" Violet called in a familiar sing-song tone that got Fluttershy's attention immediately. "What's wrong? Can't you fly?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I-I don't know how." She admitted in a trembling voice.

"Really? You can't fly?" Scootaloo's voice asked in awe. She was still sitting atop Violet's back. Fluttershy nodded meekly.

"Fluttershy, I'm sure you can fly!" Violet reassured. "It's instinctive to most pegasi. Just flap your wings a bit; the magic will take over, I promise. You don't have to cross the gap: just hover a bit."

"I-I don't know…" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Trust me." Violet smiled soothingly. Fluttershy sighed, feeling herself start to give in a bit. Logically speaking, she was starting to realize that not knowing how to fly on a cloud situated thousands of feet above the ground probably wasn't the safest idea.

"I… I'll try." Fluttershy shut her eyes tightly, and for the first time she extended her yellow wings and gave them a few experimental flaps.

Like Violet had promised, the magic took over, and it wasn't difficult to gather the strength to hover momentarily in midair before touching down again. "I… I did it!" Fluttershy said in disbelief. "Oh my goodness!" She beamed at her accomplishment.

"Yeah, great job Fluttershy!" Violet cheered from across the gap. "Now, think you can fly over here?"

In her excitement, Fluttershy didn't think twice about attempting the small crossing. She nodded with a smile, and started to hover in the air again. With a slight adjustment, Fluttershy started to fly across the gap. It was easier than she'd thought, and she started to wonder why she was so reserved about flying in the first place.

Suddenly, she remembered, and made the deadly mistake of looking down.

In an instant, Fluttershy went from confident to terrified. Her wings sprung to her sides, and she let out a scream as she plummeted.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Violet screeched, then took off and rocketed downwards. In her shock, she'd forgotten Scootaloo was still sitting on her back, and was forced to stop when the filly's frightened cries reminded her.

As Violet desperately grabbed Scootaloo so two ponies wouldn't fall to their deaths, she couldn't do much but watch as Fluttershy fell further and further towards the hard ground below.

…

Blinkie followed her brightly coloured sister back from Ponyville, her brown eyes skeptically peering at the mounds of helium balloons, streamers, and various other party paraphernalia that Pinkie had laden on her back. "So, what's the point of this?" Blinkie asked. She'd been confused about Pinkie's idea since she'd first mentioned it, and the trip to the party shop had done nothing to help her.

Pinkie skipped ahead and giggled at the question. "It's for a party, silly!"

Blinkie was quiet for a few moments, but Pinkie's answer didn't satisfy her. "And what's the point of a party?"

"To have FUN!"

Blinkie sighed and continued walking. She desperately wanted Pinkie to fit in to their family. After losing two sisters, her life had been dull and dreary. She was aware of an outside world, but after Inkanya had left and become Octavia, that world seemed more a place of evil and corruption: a place that separated families and destroyed hope. Her parents had been more than willing to support this theory, and years later she still toiled the rock fields and didn't think twice about a brighter future.

The bouncing pink pony that was her sister seemed oblivious to this. Why Pinkie thought that their parents would appreciate these odd colourful things was beyond her.

"You know what fun is, right? Don't you do things for fun?" Pinkie asked suddenly, interrupting Blinkie's thoughts.

Blinkie hesitated. "I… I'm not sure what you mean."

Pinkie giggled. "Well, what makes you happy? If something makes you happy, then it must be fun, right?"

_Happy… _Blinkie mused over the word for a few moments. Her parents had always told her that emotions hindered work, but that didn't mean she didn't know what happiness was. Happiness was completing a day's work on time. Happiness was when winter wrap up came and the rocks were no longer frozen into the ground. Happiness was when she'd seen Pinkie for the first time in over a decade. But… how did it relate to fun?

"I dunno…" Blinkie said, hoping it would satisfy her sister. Pinkie seemed to be easily appeased.

"Hey look, we're back!" Pinkie exclaimed upon realizing they were nearing the farm. "Hey Blinkie, I'm going to go set up the party in that really tall weird looking building thing over there! It'll only take me a few minutes, so can you go and get mom and dad for me?" Blinkie nodded, looking overwhelmed. Pinkie beamed. "YAY! Thank you! I'll see you in a minute."

Blinkie watched her sister disappear into the farm's water tower, then she turned and walked slowly into the house. "Mom? Dad?" Blinkie asked, gaining the attention of a grey mare and a brown stallion.

"Yes, Blinkalana?" Sue asked, turning her attention away from the dishes to survey her daughter.

"Follow me." Both of Blinkie's parents raised eyebrows, so Blinkie decided to elaborate. "There's something you need to see in the water tower…"

Neither Sue nor Clyde seemed in any hurry to find out what the mystery in the water tower was, but they walked out of the house without question or complaint all the same.

As they opened the door to the farm's water tower, Blinkie was startled as upbeat music blasted out of it. Someone, Pinkie had managed to coat the entire room in streamers and balloons. A huge sign in the middle said "Welcome Back Pinkie Pie!", and in the very center of the room was a large cake.

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie cheered and spontaneously produced confetti. "I'M HOME!"

Blinkie could only watch with huge eyes and a slightly agape mouth as Pinkie hugged both of her parents tightly, then tried to encourage them to dance to the music. To Blinkie's surprise, they slowly followed Pinkie's lead, and for the first time in a long time, she saw them smile.

Slowly, Blinkie started to smile too. It was just as Pinkie promised it would be: fun. And as the time flew by, Blinkie could proudly say that she knew what fun truly was. Not only that, but she had a better definition of happiness, and a much improved idea of family. Pinkie might be different, but it was in a good way; perhaps she'd been wrong about Inkie too.

…

"Hey Dad, check this out!" Rainbow called shortly before doing a series of flips in midair.

Stormcloud grinned. "Is that the best you got? C'mon, it'll take more than that to impress me."

Rainbow smirked. "Oh, I'm just getting started!" She circled upwards into the sky, then dove downwards towards Stormcloud, only pulling up at the very last second.

Stormcloud flinched as his daughter missed him by mere inches, then beamed to show his satisfaction. "Now _that's _a trick! I wouldn't be surprised if the Wonderbolts wanted to sign you on, Rainbow!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled as she landed on the cloudy ground. "Aw, that was nothing!" She pawed at the ground with a forehoof. "Wait until you see this!" She started to fly upwards, but a heart-wrenching scream stopped her in her tracks. Rainbow turned immediately towards the noise, and could see a yellow figure falling in the distance. "Oh no… oh no, Fluttershy!" Rainbow realized with a jolt. In an instant, she was darting after her friend.

"Rainbow!" Stormcloud yelled, flying frantically after her. "It's too dangerous! Pull up!"

Rainbow Dash ignored him. She plummeted past a violet pegasi holding an orange foal in her arms, and as she continued flying downward, she realized she was catching up. Fluttershy's terrified expression was fixated on her. Rainbow knew she was her only hope, but the hard earth below them was getting closer and closer.

"Come on…" Rainbow muttered under her breath as her wings strained themselves to keep flying downwards. She was travelling at such a speed that the air almost seemed to form a tunnel around her, and she extended both forelegs towards Fluttershy. She was close, but the ground was approaching at an alarming rate. Rainbow dismissed any fears from her mind, and focused only on Fluttershy.

Suddenly, there was an earsplitting bang, and Rainbow rocketed downwards. She grabbed Fluttershy, then pulled back up. It all happened so fast that Rainbow Dash wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but after she noticed Fluttershy staring in amazement at something behind them, Rainbow turn to see that she was leaving behind a literal rainbow as she flew. Rainbow Dash smirked. "Awww yeah."

…

Once Rainbow had placed Fluttershy back onto the safety of the clouds, the yellow pegasus curled into a trembling ball.

Violet flew over immediately to comfort her. "Oh Celestia, this is all my fault… I shouldn't have let you do that, I should have been more careful, and Scootaloo too…"

Fluttershy wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she was okay, but she couldn't manage anything more than a whimper. All she wanted to do was get back on solid ground.

"That was so awesome!" Fluttershy watched as Scootaloo trotted over to Rainbow Dash. "How did you do that? I wanna be able to do that!"

Rainbow chuckled. "Heh, maybe someday kid, if you really practice."

"Really? You think so?" Scootaloo asked, her tiny wings buzzing in excitement.

"Sure, why not?" Rainbow asked nonchalantly. "You can do anything if you set your mind to it, right?"

Violet and Fluttershy shared a concerned glance, but didn't say anything as Scootaloo beamed in excitement. "Yeah, you're right!" Scootaloo said, sounding determined. "You're so cool, what's your name?"

Rainbow grinned, clearly enjoying the attention. "Rainbow Dash. What's yours, kid?"

"Scootaloo!"

"Awesome. I should probably go; Dad's probably waiting for me. Fluttershy, you're okay, right?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy gave a weak nod. "Awesome, well, I'll meet up with you in a bit!"

"R-Rainbow Dash, wait…" Fluttershy called in tone so faint it was practically a whisper, but Rainbow was already gone.

Violet, who still looked concerned about Fluttershy, heard her. "What did you want to say to her? I can go get her, if you want."

Fluttershy shook her head and gave a faint smile. "Oh no, I couldn't possibly trouble you. It's just, she got her cutie mark." It was a cloud emitting a rainbow lightning strike. Fluttershy wondered what it meant. "She'll find out on her own."

…

If you spot any typos, let me know! I'm still pretty sick and kind of groggy, so it wouldn't surprise me if I missed a lot of things.

In terms of school, work is always piling on. I think I've read more in the past two weeks than I did all of last year.

Read and review? :3 I'll love you forever if you do!


	34. Chapter 34

Thanks to Wing Zero 032, Lieutenant Gage, Guest, BlackShock95, iPinkNinja, MoneyMan538, Alex Leep, rederci939, remvis, Nova, Alex Barkhorn, Picklemonman, juter4397, criketsnipa, praton, Sandstorm3D, elitsama, Feeling-Grand, Hazereth, Timon64, LittleKitten816, MLPFTW14, Hubord68, and Guest for their reviews! It's readers like you guys that get me to continue writing… so, thank you so much for your support and kind words!

I apologize for the month-long delay. My schedule is pretty hectic, and it's usually hard for me to justify writing when I should be studying. However, round one of midterms ended last week, so I've been on strike for the past couple of days… I'm going to regret that. Oh well. xD

I don't own MLP.

…

Twilight smiled as she looked out from the golden air carriage to where the sun was starting to set. Her day had been truly amazing so far. Meeting her parents was everything she'd ever dreamed: they talked endlessly about the differences between Earth and Equestria, Twilight learned about similarities between her parents' careers and her own ambitions, and above all she felt a parent's love for the first time since she was a very small foal. When Twilight's emotions caused her to laugh and cry at the same time, her parents and Shining Armor joined right in, and together they were an elated sobbing mess.

Even now, just recalling the memory of the past made tears prick at her eyes. She laughed softly to herself, and looked over the heads of the two pegasus guards that were pulling her carriage. Ponyville was just barely visible in the distance. As the princess had requested, Twilight was on her way to be with her friends for the celebration. She wished that her parents and Shining could come, but of course they were preoccupied with their own duties and wished to attend the Canterlot celebration instead. They promised Twilight that they would reunite before long.

When the golden carriage touched down outside of the Town Hall, Twilight hopped out, gave a quick thank you and a polite nod to the guards, and proceeded to stare upwards at the large circular building. A few ponies were decorating the exterior with fancy ribbons and bouquets of flowers.

"Twilight! Are y'back from Canterlot already?" The familiar southern accent caused Twilight to spin around and smile. Sure enough, she caught sight of Applejack immediately. A small yellow filly was standing curiously beside her.

"Hey Applejack!" Twilight greeted and trotted over. "Yes, and it was really great! My parents are interested in a lot of the same subjects I am, and it was really amazing just to see them again… oh, anyways, how are you? And who's your friend here?" Twilight asked, smiling down at the younger pony beside Applejack.

"Ah'm just dandy Twi." Applejack replied, then turned to look at the yellow filly. "And this here's - "

"The name's Apple Bloom Ms. Twilight!" The yellow filly answered energetically with a huge grin.

Applejack sighed, but couldn't help but smile in amusement. "Apple Bloom, Ah was gonna introduce yeh. Yeh just gotta be patient, y'hear? Anyways Twi, this is Apple Bloom. She's mah little sister."

"Oh, wow!" Twilight said, her eyes lighting up at this revelation. She knew that Applejack always talked about wanting siblings. "That's wonderful! And I guess you've already met the rest of your family?"

Applejack nodded. "Yup, we've got a big brother too, right Apple Bloom?" The youngster nodded in agreement with her older sister. "Yeh, his name's Big Macintosh, and then there's Granny Smith. And that's the four of us."

Twilight nodded slowly, taking Applejack's last sentence as a confirmation that her biological parents somehow weren't in the picture. Although it was unfortunate, Applejack seemed to be indifferent, or perhaps unwilling to show her true emotions in front of Apple Bloom. Either way, Twilight knew it was best not to bring up the issue. "That's great, Applejack! Have you seen any of the others around?"

Applejack thought for a few moment. "Nah, but we should be seein' them soon since you've already - "

"Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom interrupted joyfully before scurrying off towards a small white unicorn filly with a purple and pink mane.

"A-Apple Bloom! You mind yer manners, don't just go interrupt - "

"Rarity!" Twilight called out in surprise as she spotted her unicorn friend and waved her over. Twilight sheepishly noticed Applejack scowling at her a few moments later. "Sorry, Applejack." She apologized, but was grinning all the same at Rarity, who was looking thankful to have spotted friends.

"Oh thank goodness, there you are!" Rarity exclaimed as she walked towards them. "Oh, Twilight, how was Canterlot? And how was your family, Applejack?"

By the time Twilight and Applejack had recounted their experiences, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had both disappeared. Rarity kept looking over her shoulder uncertainly until both of her friends had finished. "Oh, that sounds wonderful girls! I've just returned from a lovely cup of tea with both of my parents. I wasn't so certain about this whole 'pony family' idea at first, if I may be honest, but it was actually my sister Sweetie Belle who helped me overcome that. She's the little white unicorn filly you saw earlier, playing with whom I presume is your sister from what you've told me, Applejack?"

Applejack nodded. "Yup. Ah wouldn't worry too much about them, Rarity. They're close friends from what Apple Bloom tells me."

"HI GIRLS!" Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity all whirled around in alarm at the high-pitched voice, and saw a familiar pink pony bouncing towards them. "Oh my gosh, I'm _so_ happy to see you all again!" Pinkie Pie announced before hugging all three of them. "Isn't this just the most exciting thing that's ever happened?! I had so much fun with Mom and Dad and Blinkie, and I'm super super SUPER excited to see the musical act before the ceremony, because my sister Inkie is supposed to be playing the cello in it! Isn't that just the coolest thing ever?" Pinkie giggled happily. "I am so excited to PARTY!"

As Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity all smiled at Pinkie's enthusiasm, then started to exchange stories about their days, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came trotting back over.

"Me an' Sweetie Belle were discussin' some things." Apple Bloom announced.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle agreed, beaming. "We were discussing! And even though there's only two of us right now, that's still a, um, a m-ma-jor… major-ee… uh, how do you say that word, Apple Bloom?"

"Majority! Two outta three of us agree, so that's good enough." Apple Bloom explained.

Sweetie Belle vigorously nodded her agreement. "Yeah! We agreed that…" She paused for dramatic effect, and she and Apple Bloom made eye contact and grinned before continuing at the same time.

"THAT YOU GUYS CAN BECOME HONOURARY CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! YEAH!"

"Honourary… crusaders?" Twilight asked, looking confused.

Applejack looked apologetic. "It's a sort of club they've come up with for ponies without cutie marks."

"Aw, too bad I already have mine!" Pinkie giggled and pointed her rear end in the air for emphasis.

"Yes, I supposed it would only be the five of us…" Rarity commented before her eyes focused on something that was descending from the sky.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash landed at the ground in front of them and flipped her mane out of her face. "Actually, it's only four of you chumps now." Rainbow Dash announced, standing proudly to show off her brand new rainbow lightning bolt cutie mark. "Got it after I saved Fluttershy from falling to her death. No big deal."

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, her eyes widening. "I-is she okay? Why isn't she with you?"

Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She was right behind me with the pegasus guards, but boy are they ever slow..."

"Ah think Ah see her." Applejack commented. The others followed her gaze, and could clearly see Fluttershy looking nervously around the area. Beside her trotted a small orange filly with a purple flip of a mane.

"SCOOTALOO!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle yelled simultaneously, effectively catching the attention of both Scootaloo and Fluttershy. As the three young fillies ran towards each other, Fluttershy finally caught sight of her friends and quickly headed over.

As her five friends gave happy greetings, Fluttershy gave a small smile. "Hi girls."

"How was Cloudsdale?" Twilight asked, hoping that something more positive than nearly dying had made an impression on her.

Unfortunately, Fluttershy seemed to shy away from the question, making Twilight regret asking. "I-it was… nice." She finally answered in a small tone, clearly hoping to get off of the subject.

"Was that your sister that was here a moment ago?" Rarity asked curiously.

Fluttershy looked confused for a moment, then her expression softened in understanding. "Oh… no, Scootaloo's a very sweet foal, but we aren't related." She sighed. "The poor little thing, though, I wish there was more I could do…" Fluttershy explained the situation to her friends, who frowned in sympathy.

"The kid can't fly?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking stunned. "Man, I didn't realize…"

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash. She really seemed to like you." Fluttershy reassured.

Rainbow extended her cyan wings proudly. "Of course she did. And I'll get her in the air somehow! I won't let her down."

"Excuse me!" Rarity called out suddenly, moving a few steps towards the ponies who were decorating Town Hall. The others quickly followed Rarity's gaze, and noticed a cream-coloured earth pony with a long red mane perched precariously on top of a ladder. She was holding several roses in her mouth, and was attempting to pin them to the building, though her footing looked unstable. "Do you need any help?" The pony was unable to talk due to the roses, but suddenly the ladder wobbled dangerously and her eyes widened as she started to fall.

In an instant, Rainbow Dash flew forward and caught the mare, Twilight magically stabilized the ladder before it could topple, and Pinkie Pie joyfully gathered the roses that she had dropped. As Rainbow placed the earth pony back on the ground, she looked shocked. "Oh… oh my, thank you very much." She said, looking as if she was still getting over the initial scare.

Pinkie Pie skipped over, and placed the roses at the mare's hooves. "No problem!" She said happily. "What's your name? My name's Pinkie Pie! Me and my friends are kinda new here, so that's why you don't know us!"

"My name's Roseluck." The mare finally replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you all… if you hadn't been here, well… thank you." She smiled gratefully. "I was helping Lily and Daisy decorate Town Hall with flowers, but I'm not all that familiar with ladders… erm, clearly."

"I bet I could do it for ya!" Rainbow announced before scooping up the flowers and flying to where Roseluck was trying to place them before. She easily pinned up the flowers, then flew back to admire her work. "Piece of cake if you can fly!"

Roseluck smiled. "Yeah, I guess it makes more sense for a pegasus or a unicorn to do the higher up tasks. We're just so low on volunteers today; I didn't know what else to do…"

The other six ponies all glanced at each other, and together they all smiled and nodded. "We can help!"

…

The six friends worked well into the night decorating the place, and before they knew it their efforts had paid off. Just before midnight, the place started to fill up with earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi of all different colours. Twilight had been informed that traditionally, the ponies gathered to stay up until Princess Celestia raised the sun, signalling the arrival of the longest day of the year. Because it was the thousandth celebration, it was exceptionally important. Royal guards surrounded the building for added protection, though Twilight still wasn't sure what exactly they were there for; Equestria didn't seem to have a lot in the form of real danger.

Twilight wasn't sure what the best part of the night was. Perhaps it was when a wall-eyed pegasus accidently put the banner reading "Welcome to the Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration!" upside down, and Twilight was laughing too hard at the absurdity to help Rainbow flip it. Or maybe it was when a mint-green unicorn informed her that there was a library in Ponyville. However, it was hard to beat when the Canterlot Chamber Ensemble arrived and the cellist tearily ran over and hugged an elated Pinkie Pie.

Meeting all of these ponies was finally giving Twilight the reassurance she needed that she could fit into pony society. She genuinely enjoyed everyone's – or, "everypony's", as she was corrected by several of her new acquaintances – company, and was thrilled to finally be getting a grasp on how the world worked. Before she knew it, the time for Princess Celestia to raise the sun had come, and all eyes were eagerly focused on the stage where she would appear in a matter of minutes.

…

I know it wasn't all that exciting, so please bear with me! Normally I would have tried to condense something like this, but I really needed to regain a firm grasp on the characters before continuing with the plot. I haven't watched any mlp since I got to university, so I'm a touch rough. I just haven't had any free time. Oh, except for the season 3 spoiler clip… that was definitely an exception! I'm very very excited! Hehe.

I don't know about updates. I honestly won't have any clear idea until Christmas time (…I want to be done this fic before then though… eh, we'll see I guess). However, if I'm going to post an update, it'll always be on a Tuesday (well… technically it's 1am on a Wednesday here… but you get the idea).

I'll try my best! Thank you so much for reading. :3 Drop me a review to encourage me to write! : D


	35. Chapter 35

Thanks to devin43a, AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Hazereth, Dratini4, Wing Zero 032, remvis, Lhmac (times like fifty reviews LOL), Alex Leep, Sandstorm3D, MoneyMan538, Flightstar, iPinkNinja, Hubord68, rederci939, elitsama, tailsfan54321, and grrtomboyrd for their reviews! :D

Remember when I said "whenever I update, it'll always be on a Tuesday?" My element of harmony would apparently not be honesty... ;D No really I tried but I fell asleep.

ONWARDS!

…

"It's starting!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she zipped over to Twilight's side. The other four of Twilight's friends soon followed. As they watched the mayor of Ponyville – a brown mare with a slightly frazzled grey mane – give an introduction for Princess Celestia, Twilight realized something with a jolt.

"Spike!" Twilight whispered loud enough for Pinkie and Applejack, who were on either side of her, to hear. "Where's Spike? He said he'd meet us here!"

Pinkie looked as if she was thinking really hard. "Spike… hmm, no I don't think I've seen him since this morning!"

"He's probably with the princess, sugarcube." Applejack reassured. "Ah'm sure he'll show up once the ceremony is over."

Twilight frowned. Something wasn't right. "I'm not sure… I have a really bad feeling about this." The longest day of the thousandth year: Nightmare Moon's return. Twilight's heart picked up speed. "I-it's really happening, isn't it?"

Pinkie giggled. "Of course it's happening! The princess is gonna come out and do her princess-y magic, and then we're all gonna celebrate the longest day of the thousandth year!"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think there's going to be a celebration, Pinkie. I don't even think there's going to be a day!"

Applejack looked concerned. "What do y'mean Twi? You okay? Yer all worked up…"

By now, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash's attentions were all focused on Twilight rather than the stage. Twilight opened her mouth to reassure them that she was fine, but was interrupted by the start of a grand suite performed by the Canterlot Chamber Ensemble.

The mayor pointed towards a large curtain. "And now, without further ado, I present to you… Princess Celestia!"

The curtain was swept back, and as Twilight had feared, there was nobody behind it. The crowd gave a collective gasp, and Twilight winced and turned her gaze downward. Why hadn't she realized this would happen sooner?!

A small tornado slowly started forming on the stage. It became larger and larger, and then with a huge blast of air, it broke, ripping the purple curtains right off the stage with it. The citizens of Ponyville all flinched backwards, and when Twilight managed to look at the stage again, there was a new pony standing proudly on top of it.

She was a black alicorn, adorned with heavy armoured plating, a crown, and a satisfied smirk. In short, the same evil mare she had seen in her dream during her very first night at Xanterlot. The one the princess had tried to warn her about… Nightmare Moon.

A strike of lightning pierced the air above the black alicorn, and she smiled maliciously at the crowd before her. "Well, well, well… it seems you were unprepared for my arrival."

A panicked chatter broke out among the huge crowd of gathered ponies, and a few of them suddenly tried to flee to the exits. With the sound of a lightning crack, all of the exits were magically barricaded with heavy stones, forcing the frightened ponies to stop in their tracks.

"Don't go running off now, my subjects. Does my crown no longer count after being imprisoned for one thousand years? Heed your princess: there are some important matters that must be discussed." Nightmare Moon growled before she leapt off of the stage and hovered closer to the crowd. "Listen well, for anyone who can answer me will be well rewarded. Where are the elements of harmony?"

Twilight looked around the room, but all of the other ponies appeared to be just as confused as she was. Unfortunately, the alicorn was not happy with this result. She landed on the ground in front of the ponies. Her eyes glowed white, and she stamped one of her front hooves on the ground in anger, which resulting in a loud booming noise that immediately silenced the crowd. "Fools and liars will not be tolerated!" Her horn glowed with a dark energy, which was then released in waves through the huge group of ponies.

Twilight could do little but shut her eyes tightly as the waves came towards her. An odd cooling sensation flowed through her, but the magic seemed to be otherwise benign.

For the first time, Nightmare Moon dropped her confident composure, looking shocked. "I-Impossible! You cannot hide anything from me!" Again, her horn glowed with dark magic, and this time the waves moved at twice the speed through the crowd. This didn't seem to result in anything, so she grit her teeth angrily and ceased her magic. "So be it. I don't need to find the elements of harmony – they'll find me in the end." She gave an unsettling laugh and grinned at the crowd. "Meet me in the castle hidden deep within the Everfree Forest, or you'll never see the light of day again. That being said, who would want to see the sun with the prospect of a beautiful everlasting night? Enjoy it, my subjects." With a loud crack, both she and the stone barricades vanished.

It didn't take long for the citizens of Ponyville to go into a complete panic mode. Twilight and her friends gathered close to each other as the rest of the ponies galloped frantically around. Terrified cries filled the air as ponies either called out in search of loved ones or gave desperate prayers to Celestia.

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air above the chaos, but looked towards Twilight. "Whadda we do now?!"

Twilight hesitated for a moment, since she was uncertain. She knew why she wasn't prepared. She had been expecting Equestria to bring answers, not more questions; she certainly wasn't expecting anything like this. "We need to get out of here and regroup!" Twilight decided, her voice appropriately loud to be heard over the rampaging crowd. Four heads nodded in agreement, but Applejack was looking in the other direction. She seemed very on-edge. "Applejack?" Twilight called.

Applejack glanced back at Twilight for only a brief moment. "Ah… Ah have to go." She said before racing off into the crowd.

"Applejack?!" Twilight yelled after her, but her friend had already melted into the sea of ponies. A few mares running past knocked Twilight aside, and she stumbled for a moment before finding her balance. "We need to get out of here." Twilight groaned.

"What about AJ?" Rainbow asked, flying in circles trying to locate her. "Hey, how about I find her and you guys leave before you get ground into dust?"

Twilight nodded. "Okay, c'mon girls, let's go!"

"R-Rainbow Dash, wait." Fluttershy called meekly, and by some miracle Rainbow either heard her or at least saw her mouth moving, for she hesitated. "Can you see if Scootaloo's okay? I'm worried about her in this big room with so many ponies running around…"

"Oh, right," Rarity said, looking as though she just remembered something important. "I was supposed to watch Sweetie Belle…" She blushed and gave a small laugh at her own incompetence. "Would you be a dear and see her home, Rainbow? I can't stand to be in this dreadful place any longer."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'll find the kids, no problem. I'll see you outside in a bit."

As Rainbow took off over the crowd, Twilight led the other three in a struggle to get outside. There were so many ponies moving in so many different directions that it was a bit difficult, but once they'd managed it, Twilight led them as far away from town hall as was necessary to get away from the crowd.

Pinkie Pie's mane had gotten a bit squashed by the giant crowd, so she shook her entire body, which caused both her mane and tail to poof back into their normal styles. "Gee, that was really something, huh Twilight?" She commented.

"Y-yeah…" Twilight sighed. "Let's just hope Rainbow can get the rest of them out okay." She turned her gaze upward towards the full moon hanging ominously in the sky. "Then we can start worrying about the bigger problem…"

…

Applejack fought her way against the ponies trying to leave, and instead made her way closer to the center of the building. "Apple Bloom?" She called frantically, but the panicked group of ponies might as well have been a soundproofed wall. Applejack grit her teeth and pushed through.

"Applejack! Applejack, what the hell are you doing?" Rainbow's voice yelled from above Applejack's head.

The orange mare turned her gaze upward, and sure enough Rainbow Dash was hovering just above her. "Fer your information, Ah'm tryin' to find my sister." Applejack shot back. "So what's yer story?"

Rainbow Dash grinned. "I'm trying to find everyone elses' sisters." She struck a heroic pose. "At least you're trying. Seriously, that's cool of you."

Applejack started trotted onwards again. The mass of ponies was starting to disappear, which made it a lot easier to move around. "She's mah sister. Of course Ah'm gonna try an' find her! She's so little n'all. This oughta be scary for her."

"Yeah, I guess…" Rainbow said, seeming uninterested as she glanced around the room. "Hey! I think I see them!"

"What?!" Applejack followed Rainbow's gaze to a purple curtain that must had been ripped off upon Nightmare Moon's entrance. From underneath it, three small heads were peeking out.

It only took a few seconds for Rainbow Dash and Applejack to reach them. Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle was in the center, and frightened tears ran down her face. Apple Bloom seemed to be trying to comfort her, and Scootaloo was looking in a different direction with an unreadable expression on her face. All three of the fillies looked up as Rainbow and Applejack approached.

"S-s-she's back, isn't she?" Sweetie Belle asked, her tiny ears flattened to her head. "Nightmare Moon?"

"Don't be silly, that's just a story!" Apple Bloom insisted, glancing up at her big sister. "R-right, Applejack?"

Applejack bowed her head. "I dunno, Apple Bloom. We need to get you three outta here, okay?"

Scootaloo scoffed. "I'm not afraid of some stupid night princess." Her suddenly uncertain expression contradicted her statement. "Princess Celestia'll stop her, right Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack glanced over at Rainbow, who looked surprised to have been singled out, but pleased nonetheless. "I dunno where Princess Celestia is right now, so how about you come with me? Nightmare Moon'll never be able to outfly the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash!" She landed on the ground and tipped her head in a gesture for Scootaloo to climb aboard.

Scootaloo looked elated. "Seriously?! O-okay!"

The tiny orange pegasus clambered onto Rainbow's back, but Rainbow didn't take off right away. "C'mon, kid." Rainbow said, this time talking to Sweetie Belle. "I promised Rarity I'd get you home safe, so get on!"

Sweetie Belle sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "I don't know… I've never ridden on a pegasus before."

"Aww, c'mon Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo called, though Sweetie Belle did not look convinced.

Rainbow Dash suddenly started to flap her wings, and a wide-eyed Sweetie Belle watched as Rainbow hovered in the air for a moment, smirked, then dove down and scooped Sweetie Belle onto her back before making a 180 and zipping out of the building. Scootaloo's cheers and Sweetie Belle's screams echoed behind them as they left.

Applejack chuckled. "Well, that's one way tah do it. Alrighty Apple Bloom, let's…" She hesitated as her eyes landed back on her younger sister, who suddenly looked very frightened. "Apple Bloom?"

"She is back…" Apple Bloom didn't look up, so Applejack stayed silent. "So what are we gonna do?"

Applejack managed a smile. "Let's go home."

…

As soon as they had gotten home, Apple Bloom rushed into the basement of the house. Applejack was left with Granny Smith and Big Mac, both of whom looked very somber. "It'll be alright, y'all." Applejack said with a comforting smile. "Ah dunno why I was sent away and then sent back, but Ah know this ain't a coincidence. Me an' mah friends'll be able to stop her… Ah know it."

Granny Smith smiled from her rocking chair. "I know you can do it, Summerfree."

Applejack looked confused. "Pardon, Granny?"

Granny Smith chuckled. "Yer a lot like her, Applejack. Not gonna bow down in the face of danger! Just like Summerfree, and my Cameo."

"My parents?" Applejack asked. Granny Smith only smiled.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom came barreling back into the room. A hat that was much too big for her was clasped in her mouth before she dropped it at Applejack's hooves. "This was Dad's hat." Apple Bloom explained with a smile. "Ah think it suits ya! Put it on!"

"Huh?" Applejack stared at it. "Ah don't think Ah should wear something like this, Apple Bloom."

"Why not?" Granny Smith asked suddenly with another laugh. "She's right; it suits ya!"

Applejack slowly smiled, and put the hat on top of her head. "Heh, whaddaya think?"

Apple Bloom beamed. "It looks really good!"

Big Mac grinned. "Eeeeyup!"

Granny Smith nodded in agreement. "Just like my baby Cameo…"

Applejack looked at the three ponies in front of her, and her eyes watered a bit with emotion. "Thanks, y'all… Ah truly feel like a part of the family again."

Apple Bloom leapt towards Applejack and embraced her in a huge hug. "That's 'cause you are!" She giggled. Applejack joined into the laughter, and Granny Smith and Big Mac joined in shortly afterwards.

Apple Bloom released Applejack from the hug a few moments later, but frowned as she backed away. "Awww…" She whined as her ears flattened sadly.

"What?" Applejack asked. "What's wrong, Apple Bloom?" Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack noticed Big Mac and Granny Smith smiling widely.

Apple Bloom sighed. "Now you can't join the crusaders…"

It took Applejack a few moments to realize the implications of Apple Bloom's words, but once she had, she hurriedly spun around to look at her own flank. There was now a pattern of three red apples stamped proudly upon it. Applejack stared at it for a few moments, then looked over at the three ponies in front of her. She smiled tearfully. "Thank you… but if y'all will excuse me, Ah need to go and find Twilight and the others." Applejack's family – she felt comfortable using that word now – waved goodbye as she departed, and Applejack left knowing that she had all of the support she needed to continue onwards into the darkness.

…

Hey guys! Hope it was worth the wait. :D

"Summerfree" and "Cameo" are types of apples… in case you were wondering where I pulled those names from.

Lots of changes from the first episode… one was a bit subtle, but really important. Can you guess what it was?

Once again, I dunno when I'll be able to update, but I do at least try to aim for Tuesdays (it's Thursday by this point… good job me).

If you wanna add me on the My Little Pony Gameloft game, my GL name is TangyNeon. I know it's buggy and the prices are outrageous but it's addicting.

Also, go check out Alex Barkhorn and his wonderful story "Torn Between Two Worlds". If you've been ignoring me until now, well, just go read it you silly people! He rapped through his poor-man's livestream while I wrote half of this chapter, so therefore he is awesome.


	36. Chapter 36

Thanks to AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Wing Zero 032, Alex Leep, rederci939, Miss 30 Percent Cooler, MoneyMan538, Septimus. Golem, Dratini4, grammaguy, Sandstorm3D, juter4397, Lhmac, Kinky Pie, Hubord68, Umadbrah, and, um, Balls in… wait, am I allowed to say that last one without upping my maturity rating? Hrm, well, thank you too. :3 You guys are all awesome for sticking with me.

Sorry about the delays... hope you enjoy!

…

The terrified stampede had long since subsided, and Twilight was left waiting for Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity stood close by, but it was clear that all four of them were on-edge.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked in her tiny voice. "You, um, you do know what we're doing, right?"

Twilight said nothing, as she didn't want to frighten any of her friends with the truth.

'_So be it. I don't need to find the elements of harmony - they'll find me in the end._ _Meet me in the castle hidden deep within the Everfree Forest, or you'll never see the light of day again.'_

The last words that Nightmare Moon had said to them echoed through Twilight's mind on constant loop. It was obviously a trap – she wanted them to get there. The part Twilight couldn't figure out was whether or not they had another option.

'_Look inside yourself… you'll know what to do when the time comes.'_

It was the only hint Celestia had given her. Unfortunately, it was proving to be an inaccurate statement.

"O-oh my goodness… TWILIGHT!"

Twilight jerked her head around at the sound of Rarity's panicked tone. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked over as well, and the three of them watched in amazement as Rarity's horn gave off showers of blue sparks.

Rarity's eyes were squeezed shut. "Twilight, what's going on?! How do I make it stop?!" She yelled. The faint-blue glow around her horn was getting brighter, and Rarity strained backwards and dug her hooves into the ground as the magic seemed to be pulling her forwards.

Twilight exchanged alarmed glances with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. "I don't know!" Twilight admitted, feeling increasingly unhelpful. "Try to, uh, not think of anything! Clear your mind!"

Rarity squinted over at Twilight as the light from her horn got brighter. "That's easier said than done!" She screeched as she was pulled a few inches across the ground.

Pinkie Pie suddenly zipped in front of Rarity, appeared to inspect her horn for a few moments, and then gave it a sharp tap with her hoof. The magic stopped immediately and her horn dimmed, leaving a rather distraught, though entirely unharmed, Rarity behind.

"Did you see that?!" The white unicorn cried angrily and gestured to her forehead. "This _thing _tried to kill me!"

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Nah, it was just showing you what it could do!"

Twilight watched Rarity's horn suspiciously for a few more moments, then decided that they were all clear. "It is pretty weird…" Twilight commented. "But maybe it's normal until you learn to control your magic?" She suggested. Twilight didn't know much about magic yet, but the scenario made sense.

"I suppose…" Rarity agreed, still looking rather angry at her magical abilities.

Without warning, a rainbow streak zipped from the sky and Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of them. "I got the kids home." She announced proudly, then seemed to realize that her friends had other things on their minds. "Uh, what's going on?"

Rarity's horn sparked again, but this time she managed to stop it herself. "Oh, nothing of great importance." Rarity said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Whoa, cool!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Do it again!"

Rarity rolled her eyes and did not comply.

"Hey, look!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, pointing into the distance. "Applejack!"

Indeed, Applejack was cantering towards them, adorned with both a hat and, to Twilight's great surprise, a cutie mark.

"Howdy, y'all." She tipped her hat in a familiar greeting, and most of her friends instantly swarmed around her to get a better look at her new cutie mark. Twilight, however, had other things on her mind.

"Okay girls!" She called, which effectively regained her friends' attentions. There was only one place she could think of to go when she was out of answers. "Let's go to the library!"

…

It took a fair amount of searching, especially since the library ended up being a tree and not an actual building, but once they'd found it, all six ponies crowded inside.

The inside of the tree was dusty and disorganized. Twilight doubted it was formally managed, especially since there were books strewn all across the room. There was a light, though it was rather dim. "Okay… I know it's going to be next to impossible in this mess, but we need to find information on the elements of harmony."

"Found it!" Pinkie Pie shouted almost immediately, and then passed Twilight a book entitled '_The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'. _The chapter Twilight had been sent had come from a book with the same title. Twilight inspected the guide and deduced that it was a different copy, since all of its pages were intact.

Twilight stared at the book, and then stared at Pinkie. "H-how did you do that?!"

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I have a knack for finding books. What can I say?"

Twilight quickly scanned through the book. "Six elements… kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, loyalty… sixth is unknown… I already know all of this!" Twilight exclaimed in frustration.

"Does it say where to find them?" Fluttershy carefully asked.

"Uh…" Twilight flipped through a few pages. "All it says is that the last known location of the elements of harmony was in the "royal castle of the pony sisters" located in the… the Everfree Forest!" Twilight was hit with realization. "That's where Nightmare Moon is!"

"Well, we can't go there." Rarity said as though it was a fact. "She's much too powerful."

Twilight closed the book and looked over to her friends. "I don't think we have a choice. This is the only lead we have, and if we don't do anything, all of Equestria will be covered in darkness for the rest of eternity."

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed, flying towards the door. "C'mon, let's kick some evil pony tail!"

Applejack walked over to stand by Rainbow Dash. "Whatever you think is right, Twi. You seem to know what yer talkin' about."

Pinkie Pie jumped happily over to the doorway as well, which meant there were only two uncertain ponies left.

"Look…" Twilight said, addressing Fluttershy and Rarity. "I don't want to make you come, but I know this is something we have to do together. Just try to believe me; I'll do everything in my power to keep us safe."

Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged glances, and then it was Fluttershy who took the first steps forward. "I trust you, Twilight." Fluttershy said meekly before going to wait with the others.

All eyes were now on Rarity, who took a deep breath and then gave a smile. "Okay, I'll play my little role. Onwards!"

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash cheered and zipped out of the door, with the others following closely behind her.

"Wait…" Twilight said, causing everyone to hesitate. "Which way is the Everfree Forest?"

There was a brief silence in which everyone glanced at each other and shrugged before Rarity's horn started sparking again.

"No, nononono, bad horn!" Rarity scolded and shut her eyes tightly to protect herself from the bright flashes of blue light. Like before, Rarity began to be pulled forward by the force that her magic was creating. "I-I can't control it!"

Pinkie Pie leapt up to go help, but Twilight threw out a forehoof and stopped her. "No, hold on…" Twilight watched with interest as Rarity was slowly being pulled forward. It was a long shot, but it was the only idea she had. "Rarity, stop fighting it!" Twilight called.

"E-excuse me?"

"Your horn is trying to lead you somewhere…" Twilight tried to rationalize this in her own head as well. "Let's see where it leads!"

Rarity said nothing, but the light from her horn was getting brighter and brighter. Suddenly, Rarity took off like a sideways rocket, and screeched in terror as she was carried away.

"Come on!" Twilight called to the rest of the group, and they all galloped after her.

…

To Twilight's delight, they found Rarity sitting at the edge of what looked like a vast forest. The white unicorn looked a bit dizzy, but otherwise unharmed.

"D'ya think this is it?" Applejack asked.

"I'll fly over and see if I can see anything." Rainbow Dash announced before taking off into the sky. She touched back down not five seconds later. "Nope, the trees are too thick. I couldn't see any castles."

"I'm fine, by the way, if any of you were concerned." Rarity said, giving her friends unimpressed looks. "I managed to make it stop before it dragged me into that frightening looking place." She explained, pointing at the entrance to the forest.

Twilight nodded and thought for a few moments. "Well, I guess we might as well go in - "

"Whooo?"

Twilight blinked and looked around. "…Did you hear that?"

"Who?"

The six girls realized that the sound was coming from above them, so they all looked up to see an owl perched on a tree branch.

"Who?" It asked again, tipping its head curiously at the new faces.

"Oh, it's just an owl." Twilight commented in relief. "Looks like not all of the animals here can talk… thank goodness." Twilight appreciated a bit of normality.

"Who! Who who!"

"I think it's trying to say something!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Who am I? I'm Pinkie Pie!" The pink pony giggled. "What's your name?"

"Who! Who!"

Twilight groaned. "Okay, enough already. Come on girls, let's get goin - "

"WHO!"

The six of them winced at the louder tone. To everyone's surprise, Fluttershy put on a determined expression and began to pump her wings up and down. To everyone's even greater surprise, she flew all the way up to where the owl was perched.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Owl?" Fluttershy asked sweetly as she hovered in midair.

"Who! Who who! Who who!" The owl turned its head around to look at the entrance to the forest. "Who!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Guys, why are we listening to an owl? It's not like it can talk."

"Who!" The owl pointed a wing at the path that led into the forest, demonstrating a level of intelligence that had Twilight at a loss for words. "Who, who!"

"You want to warn us about the path?" Fluttershy guessed, glancing uncertainly down at her friends.

"Whooo! Who!" The owl spread its wings in the shape of a V.

"Okay, there's a fork in the path…" Fluttershy nodded.

"Who!" The owl spread its wings widely.

"We take the bigger path?" Fluttershy asked.

The owl shook its head. "Who, who!" The owl puffed out its chest to make itself look important.

Fluttershy tapped a hoof to her chin. "We take the better path?" The owl started to preen itself. "The better looking path?" The owl rubbed a feather vigorously with its adjacent wing. "The… shinier path?"

The owl nodded. "Who! Who!" And with that, it took off into the night.

Fluttershy descended back to the ground. "Um, when the path splits, I think we should take the shiny route." She explained. "Although I'm not sure what that means…"

"How…" Twilight said, staring in shock at her former roommate. "How did you do that?! It's like you were communicating with it!"

Fluttershy smiled. "I… I don't know. I've always been good with animals. It was easy, almost as if… almost as if it's what I was meant to do it all along…" With that, there was a flash on Fluttershy's flank, and a symbol of three pink butterflies appeared. Fluttershy looked delighted as her friends all gave words of congratulations.

"Okay girls…" Twilight took a step into the forest. It was even darker in the forest without the light from the moon, so Twilight focused her magic and managed to get her horn to light up like a flashlight. Still, what they were embarking on was borderline crazy, and it was only because of the five ponies standing beside her that she managed to continue walking along the dimly-lit path. "Let's do this."

…

Yay! The end is near.

Also next Tuesday is Christmas, so… well, I guess I haven't really been updating on Tuesdays anyways… :P Well okay whenever it updates, it updates. There's only another chapter or two left, anyways. This is assuming we don't all die tomorrow.

**AND HEY BEFORE YOU GO!** Check out my new oneshot! It's entitled: "Inspiring Generosity". It's seasonally appropriate and people seem to like it. You can check it out by either clicking my username at the top… or, you can go look it up on FIMFiction! That's right, I have a FIMFiction account now (username: Neonz …yeah I know I'm really original). Xanterlot University isn't up yet because I want to give it a good editing job, add some bonus chapters, y'know, that sort of deal.

Until next time! May your holidays be fun and safe.


	37. Chapter 37

Thank you to Alex Leep, MoneyMan538, AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Jake-Everfree, Wing Zero 032, rederci939, elitsama, Miss 20 Percent Cooler, KoriCarrigan, Miathi, and Dratini4 for their reviews!

Sorry if I misspelled I'm kinda not sober IT'S MY 20TH BIRHDAY SO HOLLA OVA HERE.

I wrote the chapter before don't worryyyyyy ILY YOU ALL I just didn't write the A/N yet

THANK YOU to my friend Dratini4 for pre-reading this chapter and suggestioning changes and stuff YOU ROCK (woohoo)

AND I DON'T OWN MLP

…

The shifting of the groundcover plants that had snuck onto the once well-defined path broke the otherwise silent air as the hooves of six ponies trudged over them. Twilight led the group, and tried to keep her beam of purple light focused on the path, though as they got deeper it was getting harder and harder to see as the path became increasingly hidden by forest vegetation.

Nobody dared to speak a word as they crept closer to what they knew was a highly dangerous situation. A situation that they had to be hidden away from until the correct time, and Twilight's heart pounded anxiously because she knew that the time was almost upon them.

Eventually, they reached the fork in the path that the owl had warned them about. The path to the left lead deeper into the forest, while the path to the right led to an open area that ran alongside a cliff. The moonlight that shone from the second path was bright enough that Twilight could cease her magic. Six pairs of eyes examined both options, but none of them could conclude which was the correct path to take.

"Hmm, neither of them look very shiny, do they?" Pinkie, who had managed to stay quiet for a good while, finally spoke in her usual upbeat tone.

Fluttershy flattened her ears. "Maybe I misunderstood…"

"Nah, ya wouldn't get a cutie mark for a misunderstandin'." Applejack reassured her, though she seemed equally perplexed on what path they were supposed to be taking.

"I think we should go that way!" Rainbow Dash pointed towards the cliff. "It's brighter, right? That's gotta be the right way!"

Twilight looked between both paths one last time. Rainbow was right: the path on the right was brighter, and by default that must make it shinier. It was only an owl, after all; it probably didn't know the difference between the two terms. "Alright guys, let's go this way." Twilight nodded towards the cliff, and most of the others started to follow her lead.

It took Twilight a few moments to realize Rarity wasn't with the rest of them. She turned her gaze backwards, and the four ponies behind her did the same. "Rarity?" Twilight asked. The white unicorn was staring down the path on the left, and didn't look up at the sound of her name. Wordlessly, she closed her eyes for a few moments, and her horn sparked a few times before a blue glow settled around it. She then started trotting down the incorrect path. "Rarity!" Twilight called again, this time her tone filled with confusion and concern. The five remaining girls exchanged looks before galloping after their friend.

As they rounded the corner of the left path, they could see Rarity glancing around as if she was looking for something. Finally, she looked backwards and acknowledged her friends. "Stay quiet." She said. "I can sense something is different here… just give me a moment."

Rainbow Dash started to hover in the air, and looked down the path at the white mare skeptically. "Rarity, what the hell are you - " Twilight quickly shushed her, and the five of them watched in awe as the blue light around Rarity's horn dimmed momentarily before it suddenly doubled in intensity.

Like before, Rarity started to be dragged forwards, but this time she planted her hooves firmly in the ground and quickly stopped herself from going anywhere. She squinted her eyes in order to see past the light coming from her own horn, then lowered her neck so that her horn was pointing towards the ground.

There was a blinding flash of blue light, and all of them had to avert their eyes. However, as quickly as it had come, the light was gone. Rarity was left staring wide-eyed at the ground beneath her.

"…Rarity?" Twilight finally dared to call. "What are you looking at?" All Twilight could see was the dirt path, and she highly doubted Rarity would have any interest in that.

"I… I… Oh my stars…" Rarity looked away from the ground, and appeared to be lost in thought. "So many possibilities… oh just imagine…" Her eyes shone with a wonder that Twilight recognized as the same look Rarity had on before she decided to design her giant hats. "This world is simply… _amazing." _There was another bright flash, but this time it came from Rarity's flank.

Due to the dim light of the forest, everyone had to walk closer to Rarity in order to see her cutie mark properly. Twilight recognized the mark to be three blue diamonds. Rarity looked over herself and smiled in delight.

"Congrats and all that, Rarity…" Applejack said, looking confused. "But… Ah'm not sure Ah get the connection between yer cutie mark and that fancy light display." The others were quick to voice agreements.

Rarity grinned madly. "Oh, just you wait!" For the first time, her horn lit up instantly and appeared to be entirely under her control. There was another blinding flash of light, but this time it didn't fade, which gave time for everyone's eyes to properly adjust.

Twilight gasped as she looked around her. The forest floor had been completely transformed; patches of blue light illuminated what Twilight was fairly certain were buried gems of all different kinds. Back on Earth, they would undoubtedly be worth a fortune.

Rarity beamed, looking absolutely giddy. "Isn't this wonderful?! I've never seen such a beautiful sight before, and this opens an entire realm of possibilities!" She gave a satisfied sigh. "Oh, just imagine the sort of designs I could create with these _beauties_ incorporated!"

"Yeah… assuming there's diamonds like this everywhere." Rainbow Dash pointed out with an added eye roll.

Rarity waved her off. "Nonsense, I could sense these precious little gemstones everywhere as soon as we arrived. I simply didn't know what I was feeling at the time."

Twilight was happy for Rarity, but knew that this left her as the only one of the six without a cutie mark. She had absolutely no idea what in Equestria her special talent was supposed to be, and their time was running short.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie called, bouncing in one spot excitedly. "You know what else these gems are? _SHINY!"_

With a jolt, Twilight realized that Pinkie was right. "This must be the right path after all!" She announced with a grin. "Let's go!"

…

Rarity led her five friends through the forest with her magic, and it didn't take them much walking to arrive at their destination: a rickety old suspension bridge that led straight to an ancient castle that looked like it had been half-destroyed centuries ago. Rarity ceased her magic at the sight of it, and allowed Twilight to resume the lead.

Twilight took a few cautious steps on the bridge, but it turned out to be surprisingly sturdy. She looked back and gave the rest of her friends a slight nod to show it was safe, and within moments all six of them were on the other side.

Easy. It was far too easy.

Twilight sighed and stared at the structure in front of her. This was undoubtedly a trap; unfortunately, there were no other options.

The purple unicorn glanced behind her to see that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were standing next to each other, and they both gave Twilight reassuring smiles. Rainbow Dash and Applejack likewise gave off confident grins as they noticed Twilight watching them. Fluttershy floated down to be next to Twilight, and the former roommates looked at each other for a few moments, each trying to gauge the other's level of fear. "This is crazy, isn't it?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy gave Twilight a sad smile. "Yes." She confirmed with a small giggle.

Twilight finally cracked a grin herself, then led the six of them onwards. The door to the structure creaked loudly as Twilight pushed it open, and once they were inside she could see that there truly wasn't very much to the former castle. The roof had been completely destroyed, revealing the stars and ever-present moon. There was really only one thing of interest in the room, and that was a tall statue adorned with several large stone spheres. Each of the stone spheres had a familiar image stamped on the front of it.

Twilight went closer to examine them, and realized that the images were exactly the same as how the elements of harmony were depicted in the storybook she'd read at Xanterlot. "Of course!" Twilight exclaimed. "Princess Celestia told me that the five remaining elements were turned to stone… this must be them!" Twilight's horn created a glow around one of the purple spheres, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to help remove them from the statue.

_CRACK!_

A lightning-filled tornado appeared in front of the statue, blowing the six ponies halfway across the room. Twilight dizzily raised her head, and her eyes connected with those of Nightmare Moon's.

"You little foals, thinking you could defeat me!" The black armour-clad alicorn glared at the six friends as they each started to rise. Like she had done during her first appearance, Nightmare Moon sent dark waves of energy pulsing across the room. Again, it had no physical effect. Nightmare Moon cackled in delight. "If I were you, I'd leave now while I still had the chance. You cannot stop me; if you had the power to do so, I'd be able to sense it."

Twilight bit her lip and glanced over at her friends. To her surprise, the five of them had taken up fighting positions behind her, and were staring at the opposing villain with matching anger. Encouraged, Twilight stood a few confident steps forward. "The elements!" She yelled, pointing at the objects on top of the statue. "The elements of harmony can stop you!"

Nightmare Moon smirked. "The ones behind me? Made of _stone?"_ She let out an amused laugh. "Don't be stupid."

Twilight grit her teeth, lowered her head, and shot out a huge blast of concentrated energy at Nightmare Moon. The evil mare immediately conjured a shield that caused the attack to bounce back, and the six of them had to dive out of the way as it ploughed into the stone floor.

"Sorry!" Twilight called, praying that everyone was okay. She quickly looked over at Nightmare Moon, who was looking beyond furious.

"You want to fight, little ponies?" The alicorn asked as her horn gave off a dark glow. "Then I will show you mortals the full power of the princess of the night!" The air in front of her began swirling violently until it had created a giant tornado that began whipping towards them.

"Everyone scatter!" Applejack's voice yelled from somewhere across the room. Twilight could spot Fluttershy pressed into the corner of the old castle and Pinkie Pie jumping expertly out of the way of the violent winds, but the whereabouts of her other friends were not immediately apparent, which Twilight didn't like at all.

"Twilight!" Rainbow's voice caused the lavender mare to look upwards, and to her horror could see that her rainbow-maned friend was flapping her wings desperately as she tried to stay out of the tornado. "Do something!" Rainbow yelled. "Use your magic!"

It was a long shot, but Twilight poured all of her might into her horn. She didn't know how to stop a tornado, but she did know how to move objects. She hoped the same logic could be used to stop an object from moving. A purple glow surrounded the winds as Rainbow Dash came closer and closer to getting sucked in. "Come on…" Twilight muttered, begging her spell to still the winds.

Miraculously, the tornado suddenly paused in its twirling, then dissipated altogether. Twilight sunk to the floor, completely out of breath.

"No! How?!" Nightmare Moon growled and glared at Twilight, though did not leave her place in front of the statue. "You have powerful abilities for a simple unicorn…"

Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight. "Thanks. I owe ya one."

Twilight nodded and was relieved to see the rest of her friends trotting towards her. "Guys, listen…" Twilight stood up and faced her friends. "I can distract her, but it's up to the rest of you to get the elements. I don't know what will happen after we remove them from the statue, but it's the only lead I have to go off of."

"Twilight…" Rarity stared at her with uncertain eyes. "A-are you absolutely sure - "

"I can do this," Twilight reassured, "but not by myself."

Her five friends hesitated, but they weren't given any time to argue as Nightmare Moon shot a long stream of concentrated energy at the group. Most of them were quick to move away, but Fluttershy hesitated for a fraction too long and stared in horror as the spell came towards her.

Twilight jumped in between them with a purple beam of her own. "GO!" Twilight yelled as she fought desperately to keep her stream of energy focused. The effort it was taking to fight against the much stronger alicorn was tremendous. Twilight considered rolling away from the beam and making a run for it, but she knew that would leave her friends completely vulnerable.

The dark magic was coming closer and closer, and Twilight felt herself weakening as her horn tried in vain to protect her. The edges of her vision were starting to fade out…

Nightmare Moon's magic ceased, and as Twilight fell to the floor, she feared for a moment that she had died. She pried her eyes open and could see Rainbow Dash swerving aggressively over the black alicorn's head. Applejack was just below her, circling the evil mare as she searched for an opening.

"Twilight!" Pinkie was hovering overtop of her, peering worriedly into her half-lidded eyes. "Are you okay? 'Cause you don't really look okay…"

"I… I need a minute…" Twilight couldn't remember a time in her life when she'd felt this drained of energy. Her limbs refused to move, and she could barely shift her head to face Pinkie. "D-did you get the elements?"

"Yepperoni! Well, I got one, and that's better than none, right?" Pinkie Pie rolled one of the stone figures into Twilight's vision field, then perked her head up. "Hey look! Here come Rarity and Fluttershy!"

Twilight could hear said ponies approaching, and there were two distinct thunks as more of the stone objects were added to their collection. "Twilight?" Fluttershy's tiny voice asked as she stood close to her lavender friend's head. Twilight could tell that Rarity was also right next to her.

"NO!" Applejack's terrified yell caused Twilight's head to jerk up despite her exhaustion. Applejack was staring upwards in horror, and Twilight realized that Nightmare Moon had managed to grab Rainbow Dash in her magical grip.

Rainbow struggled momentarily before she was flung across the room. She hit the opposite wall with a sickening scream of pain.

Nightmare Moon grinned widely and laughed before turning her horn towards Applejack, who fortunately understood what was about to happen and dove out of the way with impressive agility.

Twilight's horn gave off a few feeble sparks, but even doing that was proving to be too much. She watched helplessly as Applejack was forced to zigzag out of the way of each magical blast. Rainbow had managed to stand, but was holding her wing at an odd angle and seemed to be avoiding placing weight on her right foreleg. Neither of the two ponies were making a move to go back to Twilight, but were instead backtracking towards the statue in the center.

"HEY NIGHTMARE MOON!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and bounced towards her. "BETCHA CAN'T CATCH ME, YOU SILLY SLOWPOKE!"

Nightmare Moon hesitated for a fraction of a second before narrowing her eyes and aiming her attack at Pinkie instead. The poofy-haired pony's giggles echoed around the room as she moved out of the way so fast that it looked more like she was teleporting. Watching her made Twilight's head pound, so she turned her attention back to Rainbow and Applejack. Applejack had one of the elements perched on her back, but the last one was placed too high on the statue. Rainbow Dash tried to flex her hurt wing, but couldn't seem to fully extend it without an obvious wince of pain.

Fluttershy suddenly left Twilight's side, and flew bravely across the battlefield in order to assist.

Nightmare Moon's gaze watched the yellow pegasus for a moment before turning back towards Twilight. Rarity shifted closer to her exhausted friend, and Pinkie tried in vain to regain the alicorn's attention.

Nightmare Moon smirked, then powered her horn and fired a beam of dark energy directly towards the pair of unicorns. Twilight tried desperately to summon a defense, but nothing would come up –

Rarity leapt in front of her, a glow surrounding her horn. Nightmare Moon's blast was met with a blue shield, and though Rarity stumbled backwards when it was broken, the attack had been successfully deflected.

Rarity panted and smiled backwards at Twilight, looking amazed by her own accomplishment. The other four of her friends had managed to make it back, and together they formed a pony barrier to protect the five elements and Twilight, who still could not find the strength to stand.

Nightmare Moon's cackle rang through the old building. "You are brave fools; I'll give you that much. However, protecting those artifacts won't help you. Surely you've noticed that there's only five? Even if it were possible to restore them, they're absolutely worthless without the sixth element of harmony, and I can assure you that I destroyed that one many centuries ago."

_"Twilight… know this: though the sixth element was physically destroyed, the power it contained was much too strong to be gone forever. The same goes for the other five as well." _Princess Celestia's words rang through Twilight's memory.

"I'll give you one last chance to leave now. Make peace with the night, and perhaps you will come to realize its true beauty for yourself." Nightmare Moon stared at her six opponents with an icy glare. "You cannot change the fact that the elements of harmony are gone, and though your rebellion is amusing, it is otherwise pointless."

_"Look inside yourself… you'll know what to do when the time comes." _

Twilight stared at the stone spheres, then at the five ponies that were still standing strong in front of her. Twilight hesitated, then quickly turned her attention back to the elements of harmony.

"…_kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, loyalty…" _Twilight's own words echoed through her mind and her jaw dropped as her vision landed back onto her friends.

"_Look inside yourself…"_

"…Oh my GOD!" Twilight's five friends all looked backwards with confused expressions as she made her revelation.

Of course: why else would Princess Celestia specifically send them away? After thinking of the elements as simple objects for so long, she finally realized what they really were. It was them. _They _were the elements of harmony.

Immediately after the thought ran through her mind, the five elements started to glow an odd colour, then they simultaneously burst into tiny pieces, flew into the air, and danced circles around them.

Nightmare Moon looked horrified. "HOW?! NO!" She fired several panicked shots of magic, but the circling elements easily deflected the attacks.

Twilight felt some strength return to her from the elements' appearance, and she finally rose and faced her five best friends with a huge grin. "I can't believe I didn't see it earlier… it was so obvious!" She laughed and turned to face Applejack. "Applejack, you were the first person I really connected with at Xanterlot…" Twilight fondly remembered their encounter at the bookstore, and Applejack grinned back. "After so many years of shutting myself out, why was I able to talk to you so easily? I know the answer now; you're so genuine! You weren't afraid to tell Rainbow the truth about those boys, even when none of the rest of us even questioned it. And come to think of it, when have you ever told even the smallest lie? You're the most dependable, trustworthy, and _honest _person – or pony – I know."

The orange gem shards broke off from the rest, and started circling around Applejack, who looked startled for a moment before giving a confident nod.

"And Rainbow Dash!" Twilight turned to the cyan pegasus, who was keeping her right foreleg raised but giving her usual cocky smirk all the same. "It's really no wonder that you couldn't see what Applejack could; when you can see potential in people, you don't mind looking past their flaws. Your trust isn't an easy thing to gain, but once somebody's earned it, you'll stick by them until the end. You were so bothered when those boys betrayed you because you couldn't understand why anyone would ever hurt a friend! Rainbow Dash, your most noble trait has to be your loyalty."

This time it was the red shards that broke off and started rotating around Rainbow, who was looking very surprised at how accurately Twilight described her.

"Rarity!" Twilight turned this time towards the white unicorn, who smiled back. "I've lost track of the amount of time you've given up in order to help us… sewing us clothing, inviting us to your room whenever you possibly can, giving up your bed in order to help a friend, giving away your bedsheets to me without even questioning what they were for… And all of this without even the slightest expectation of anything in return! You're a seamstress, but although your work is very important to you, I know that your material possessions mean nothing when compared to your friends, and you are without a doubt the most generous person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

Rarity looked touched to the point of tears as the purple shards began to hover around her.

Pinkie Pie started giggling as soon as Twilight laid eyes on her. "Do I even have to say anything, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, laughing a bit herself. "Pinkie Pie, I don't think I will ever meet anybody else with as much positive energy as you. But what's so beautiful about it is that all you want to do is share this energy with everyone that you meet. Life can drag us down, but as long as you're here to bring us back up… I know we'll be okay. Don't ever stop smiling, and don't ever stop spreading laughter, Pinkie!"

The blue shards broke off and swirled around Pinkie, who was giving Twilight her best smile. "I won't, Twilight!" She promised, giving a few more final giggles before Twilight turned to look at the last of her friends.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight looked at the yellow pegasus, and couldn't help the tears that sprung to her eyes. "I… I just want to thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me when I needed somebody to listen to my crazy theories. I still don't know how you've found the strength to not only move on from the terrible things that happened to you when you were young, but to not let it stop you from being so polite and so nice to everyone that you meet. Even if others won't open their heart to you, you'll always open your heart to other people… Fluttershy… thank you for bringing a spark of true kindness to both of our worlds."

Fluttershy's huge teal eyes shone as she smiled at Twilight, and the remaining shards, all pink, flew over to rotate around her.

"That's still only five elements!" Nightmare Moon yelled, glaring at them with all of her might. "I might not be able to hurt you now, but you'll still never be able touch me without the sixth element!"

"No. The sixth element is here." Everyone in the room turned to look curiously at Twilight, who looked very confident. "All of my life, I've been the outcast. The orphan that nobody wanted; the nerd that nobody would want to be around. I'd accepted it as just being a part of who I was, but… I-I've never been more wrong." A few tears escaped from her eyes and hit the stone floor beneath her as she smiled widely at the five ponies in front of her. "The greatest thing I've learned during our short time at Xanterlot had nothing to do with math, or science, or psychology… but it had everything to do with the five of you. You've taught me acceptance. You've taught me love and compassion. But in the short time I've known you, you've given me the greatest asset I will ever hope to acquire… you've given me _friendship_."

There was a flash of pink light above her, and Twilight felt something similar to a crown land on her head. Similar flashed occurred with each of her friends, and they were now sporting necklaces.

Twilight took several steps forward so that she was at the front of the ground, and her horn glowed brightly as she stared down the opposing alicorn, who was staring at her in utter disbelief. "And you see, Nightmare Moon…" Twilight grinned and allowed her crown to exemplify the power from her horn. "Friendship is _magic!"_

There was an exceptional amount of light, and Twilight's energy once again started to rapidly deplete as she concentrated everything she had into defeating Nightmare Moon.

"NO! NOOOOOOOO!" The alicorn's screams echoed around the room as the six of them produced a massive rainbow that spun into the air before crashing into her.

Twilight was somewhat aware of her body landing back onto the stone floor. She could see the blurry shapes of her fallen friends, but was too weak to call out to them. The last thing Twilight saw were the rays of the morning sun, and then her vision blacked out entirely.

…

Twilight's dead (spoiler) just kidding she isn't

During the time between me writing the first AN and me writing the second I managed to lock myself out of my room and had to call my ra lol

I probably had something to say on this chapter but I kinda forget… oh other than it's my longest so far! I thought it was appropriate for the final boss battle or whateverrr

Also I got featured on Equestria Daily yesterday… not for writing though (they don't even allow humanizations on their site so WHATEVER) but I took two hours out of my day and made my very first PMV with a song that I'd only known existed for less than 24 hours and I'd never used the video editor I used before.

It's funny because I spend like three times that on a single chapter, but THAT'S what gets featured. I'M NOT COMPLAINING I'M JS (btw the PMV was to "Bad Apple" username "TangyNeonz" on yt look me up)

ILY ALL THERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER AFTER THIS SO STAY TUNED


	38. Chapter 38

Thanks to Wing Zero 032, Dratini4, AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, ganadoleader, Flightstar, Hubord68, Alex Leep, rederci939, Truebolt, Captainess Scout, Lhmac, Xk123x, hajjie, and ISliceYou for reviewing!

Sorry for the wait. I've had this chapter completed for a few days, but I wanted to release it alongside an epilogue. I've been too lazy to write it, though, so I figured I might as well give you guys the last chapter now and the epilogue once I get around to writing it (2-3 days? It won't be very long).

Because it's the last chapter (besides the epilogue), I've decided to omit the author's note at the end for dramatic effect. As such, this one will be longer. :D

I'll be repeating this again, but thank you guys so much for your patience and support. It's been an awesome journey. My one year brony anniversary is… sometime this week, I think. I can't remember the exact day, but I know it was the last week in February. Maybe it's today!

I've been uploading the chapters onto FIMfiction, though I sort of just remembered I haven't done that in a while. Once I'm finished this fic, I'll be working primarily on two multi-chapter fics, one of which should be published within the next week or two and the other idk when. Also I need to remember to update Conversions.

Oh, and if you like PMVs or mlp musical arrangements, you should check out my yt channel "TangyNeonz". Everything I've posted has been featured on either EQD or Everypony Sings, which I guess means it's good?

Without further delay: I do not own MLP.

…

_Beep… beep… beep…_

Twilight groggily opened her eyes in order to pinpoint the cause of the annoying sound. She realized she was lying on a bed in a room with white walls, and with a start discovered that the annoying noise was coming from a heart monitor.

Twilight sat up, her panic causing the heart monitor to beep more rapidly. She stared at her hooves and could find no way that she was attached to it, so she figured the device was magically powered. The cause of her stress was the fact that she was next to one at all.

"Twilight!" A familiar voice caused Twilight to gasp and turn around to meet the eyes of a very excited baby dragon.

"Oh, Spike!" Twilight cried as he jumped onto the bed to hug her. "I was worried about you! I thought you were going to come to the ceremony?"

He shrugged. "Things got kinda crazy; y'know, with the princess disappearing and everything."

Everything that had happened in Twilight's recent memory came rushing back to her, and her eyes widened exponentially. "Is the princess back? Did we defeat Nightmare Moon?" Before Spike could answer, Twilight's heart jolted as the absence of her friends became apparent to her. "Oh no, oh no… is everyone okay?! They aren't in here too, are they?" A sudden wave of exhausted caused her to flop onto her back, and she looked at the heart monitor in concern. "Uh, come to think of it, am _I _okay?"

Spike shot her a look. "Slow down! Jeez… yeah, you're fine. They just put you here to rest for a bit. After you defeated Nightmare Moon, the princess arrived and found you all unconscious. The others came to pretty fast, but you wouldn't wake up. You probably just passed out from using too much magic; it's common in unicorns."

"Oh. Then why are we in a hospital?"

Spike looked anxiously down at the bedsheets. "Rainbow was hurt pretty bad…"

Twilight's ears flattened. The scream Rainbow emitted when she was launched into the wall was not a sound that Twilight was going to soon forget. "How bad is it?"

"Well…" Spike wrung his claws together and glanced back up at Twilight. "They did x-rays and said that she broke a few ribs. No internal damage or anything, but there isn't a whole lot they can do for her…"

"W-what…?" Twilight tried to wrap her head around Spike's words. Images of injured racehorses came into her mind. "They… they aren't going to put her down, are they?!"

Spike gave Twilight a very confused look, then rolled his eyes. "I forgot how messed up your world is. No, of course they aren't! I just mean that you can't really bandage a broken rib like you can a leg or a wing, so they take longer to heal. They've performed spells on her to speed the process and reduce pain, but that's about it."

"Oh." Twilight gave a relieved sigh. "Can I see her? Are the others with her?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. Hold on, I'll make sure it's okay if you leave." Spike leapt off of the bed and headed out of the hospital room. Twilight stared at the white ceiling for a few moments, but her eyelids felt exceptionally heavy. She fought against closing them, trusting that Spike would be back momentarily.

"Twilight?" A voice flowed through the doorway, and Twilight momentarily forgot about how tired she was. She quickly sat up and beamed as she saw the princess.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Princess Celestia gave a soft laugh and went to Twilight's bedside, Spike following close behind. The white mare gently extended a hoof and guided the lavender unicorn back to a reclined position. "Rest, Twilight. You've been through so much… I couldn't be prouder." She smiled warmly, a few tears pricking at her eyes.

Twilight watched her princess curiously. "What happened? Where did you go?" she repeated, though obeyed orders and didn't sit up again.

"When Nightmare Moon returned, she banished the day and brought forth an everlasting night… Of course, because I am so closely connected to the day, she banished me along with it. Without the elements of harmony, I was powerless against her fury." Princess Celestia watched Twilight with a small frown, seeming to know what Twilight was going to ask next.

"It was us all along. We were the elements of harmony." Twilight watched as the princess gave a nod. "But then… why didn't you tell us that in the first place?" She tried to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice, but wasn't very successful. "You went through so much to prepare us, but you didn't tell us the most important thing we needed to know."

Princess Celestia bowed her head. "I did so in order to protect both you and the rest of Equestria. If I had told you outright that you were the elements of harmony, you may have ceased to exist altogether."

"W-what?"

Celestia gave Twilight a sad smile. "I know this is a lot to take in, and for that I apologize. You see, Twilight, one thousand years ago the elements of harmony resided in the very stable form of six gemstones. When my sister destroyed the element of magic and turned the other five to stone, I had thought for many centuries that they were gone forever.

I was wrong. Being the guardian of both the day and the night, I had little free time to research, but as the years flew by and my sister's escape came closer and closer, I became desperate. The rising of the sun and setting of the moon were often delayed as I travelled Equestria and used my magic at its fullest extent to locate the elements.

To my great surprise, I found the element of kindness in the form of an earth pony. Halfway across the country, I found the element of laughter in the form of a pegasus. Scattered throughout Equestria were the six elements in forms of different ponies. Over the years, these ponies would pass on, and the elements' power would be transferred to a new foal – though I was never aware of it until the foal had matured and secured his or her place in society; the element could not function properly within a body that wasn't sure of itself yet. Quite often, the foal grew up with the traits of the element that resided within them.

Living creatures are not very stable forms. I came to the conclusion that this was a temporary solution on the elements' part because they were no longer able to return to their original forms. Upon the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the elements would be able to channel energy through ponies to break the spell that had cursed them, and return to their stable forms.

There was a problem with this plan; my sister knew all of it from the beginning.

You see, Twilight, if I had not taken you out of this world entirely, you would have secured your place, which would have revealed you as the bearer of the element of magic - likewise for your friends. That spell that you saw Nightmare Moon perform would have revealed your true self, and she would have killed you on the spot.

Preparing you by informing you that you were all the elements of harmony created an even bigger issue. If you were aware that you were meant to represent the magic of friendship, wouldn't that change the way you saw yourself? Influence how you felt you were supposed to live your life? You would have changed the way the elements function altogether, and they, as well as you, would have disappeared forever."

"But… I'm here now!" Twilight pointed out. "If I know about the elements, shouldn't I be dead?"

Princess Celestia smiled. "You realized it in order to take down Nightmare Moon, Twilight. The elements reside comfortably within the necklaces and crown that appeared on you once she was defeated, but they also share a magical connection with the six of you. This connection is very stable, and I am not worried about it breaking."

Twilight slowly nodded. "What about Xanterlot University? Why were we all brought there?"

"In order to keep you, as well as the rest of Equestria, safe, I devised a plan. I removed the old Canterlot Library and its grounds from the city, and teleported it all the way to Earth. I purposefully placed it near where two great scholars lived, which gave them a major building block in the founding of what came to be known as Xanterlot University because the "C" in Canterlot was damaged beyond recognition during the transfer. This all happened about one hundred and fifty years before you were born.

I couldn't begin to feel the elements' presence inside of you six until you were the pony equivalent of toddlers. It was a weak presence, but it was enough for me to inform your parents of this plan. Unfortunately, if you remembered anything at all about Equestria, it would have been pointless… thus I gave them barely a month to say goodbye. Trust that I still feel terrible about it, Twilight. Many sleepless nights I endured wondering if I was doing the right thing.

When I teleported you to earth, I separated you six and drained nearly all of your magical power. The elements remained inside of you, but their power was undetectable. Using the tiny magical connection that I had left with the six of you, I watched you grow. You were all exceptional students in your particular fields of interest - a side effect of being born a pony, I would guess - and you earned the scholarships yourselves. At this time in your lives, the elements within you were subconsciously trying to find each other, which is the reason you all ended up attending Xanterlot University… in fact, you all submitted your applications on the same day, so you ended up on the same floor of the same residence." Princess Celestia smiled at the awed look on Twilight's face. "I have already informed your friends about everything I've just told you."

Twilight nodded, then rolled over and stood up. "Can I see them?" she asked hopefully, praying that the princess wouldn't argue any further.

"Of course, Twilight… but there's somepony that I need you to meet first." Princess Celestia smiled and over at the doorway entrance. "Luna?"

Twilight's heart caught in her chest as a familiar alicorn stepped into her hospital room. She was much smaller and bluer than Twilight remembered, and no longer donned the heavy plated armour, but Twilight could still recognize that it was Nightmare Moon.

Princess Celestia smiled. "It's okay, Twilight. I'd like you to meet my sister, Luna. You freed her from the evil mare she had become, and you no longer have reason to fear her."

Luna bowed her head. "Please accept my deepest apologies, Twilight Sparkle. Thou haste changed me, and I am in eternally in thy debt."

Twilight gave a small smile. If the princess could trust her sister again, then Twilight would try hard to forgive her too. "Well, as long as everyone's okay, right?" Immediately after she'd said it, she remembered Rainbow Dash and frowned.

Princess Celestia gestured her forwards. "Come, my faithful student. I won't delay you any longer." Twilight hurried to step off of the bed, and followed Princess Celestia out of the room. Spike and Luna stayed behind.

It turned out that Rainbow Dash's room was merely three doors down the hall. Princess Celestia stopped in front of it and gestured with her horn. "I'll leave you to be with your friends." Twilight nodded and started towards the doorway. "Oh, and one other thing, Twilight." Twilight hesitated and glanced back at the princess, who was pointing a hoof at her flank.

Twilight swiveled her head around and realized that she too had finally earned her cutie mark. Five tiny white stars circled around one large magenta six-pointed star. It represented astronomy, magic, and even friendship. Twilight smiled widely. "It's perfect."

Princess Celestia smiled back before she turned to leave. "I'll be nearby if you need me."

"Thank you, princess." Twilight used magic to turn the doorknob, then walked inside.

Predictably, Rainbow Dash was lying on her left side and looking extremely bored. There was a gruesome black bruise spread across the right side of her chest. Rarity was sitting near the pegasi's bed, and both of them perked up as they saw Twilight enter.

"Oh, Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed and rushed to embrace her. "Are you feeling better? Oh, I am _so _glad this ordeal is over…"

"I'm fine." Twilight reassured as she separated from her friend's grasp with a smile. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, just stretching their legs, I think… of course they're gone when you wake up, how typical." Rarity rolled her eyes and trotted towards the door. "Lovely cutie mark by the way, darling. I noticed it had appeared after we vanquished Nightmare Moon. Now, I'll go fetch the others, so don't you go anywhere on me!"

Twilight nodded and watched her leave before cautiously approaching Rainbow's bedside. She gave a small smile at her cyan friend. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better." Rainbow Dash said, but grinned despite herself. "I broke my arm once, back when I thought rugby was a cool sport, but this is…" she paused for a few moments and winced. Twilight noted how shallow her breathing was. "Sorry. Talking kind of hurts… so does breathing." She slumped her head onto the pillow in annoyance.

Twilight's expression held nothing but concern. "I thought Spike said they were performing spells on you for the pain?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but they wear off too fast."

Twilight raised a hoof uncertainly. "I'll get a nurse." Rainbow didn't object, so Twilight turned to start walking out the door.

"TWILIGHT!" A pink blur came out of nowhere and knocked her to the ground. Twilight groaned and stared into the beaming face of Pinkie Pie. "I'm so glad you're okay! That was so cool what you did back there, well, what w_e _did back there, with all of the lights and the magic and the rainbow and - "

"Pinkie!" Rarity scolded before going to help Twilight up. "Twilight's very tired; there's no need to be assaulting her."

Pinkie giggled. "Oh, right! Sorry, Twilight!"

"It's okay." Twilight grinned back. Fluttershy and Applejack were in the room as well, and were both giving her warm smiles. "I'm so glad you're all okay…"

"I'm not." Rainbow Dash reminded her in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, sorry Rainbow." Twilight quickly turned to head out the door, but a white unicorn with a nurse outfit was already walking in. Twilight watched curiously as the pink glow on the nurse's horn slowly spread across the bruise on Rainbow's side. The effect was immediate – Rainbow's expression glazed over in contentment, and she sighed in relief.

Twilight looked curiously at the nurse. "Thanks. How long do you think it will be until she's better?"

The nurse gave a sad smile back. "Based on what the doctors have said, she'll need to stay immobile for about two weeks: no walking, no flying. With the help of magic, she should be good as new within a month. Without it, it could take up to six months."

Rainbow Dash groaned. "Stop saying that! Two weeks is waaaay too long to not do anything. That's _so _not happening."

The nurse chuckled. "Well, you'll never be better then, will you?" Rainbow Dash shot her a glare as she trotted out the door.

"Odd…" Twilight mused. "In the human world, I don't think rib injuries require immobilization… though I guess the anatomy is different; being a quadruped must put a lot more strain on that area…"

"Whatever y'say, Twi," Applejack said, causing Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy to laugh.

"Doesn't matter, anyways," Rainbow Dash growled. "There's no way I'll be able to sit still for that long."

"You've had enough excitement for one day, don't you think?" Fluttershy asked in a motherly tone that caused Rainbow to roll her eyes.

"Yes, quite enough, I should think." Rarity said, and turned to Twilight with a nervous smile. "I was really touched by what you did back there, Twilight. I'd just like to say that I consider you all my best friends… you've really shown me what the power of true friendship can conquer."

Applejack grinned and winked. "Ditto."

Pinkie Pie burst into tears. "I LOVE YOU GUYS! GROUP HUG!"

"H-hey! Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow argued as Pinkie leapt on top of the bed and wrapped her forehooves gently around Rainbow's shoulders. Rainbow gave an annoyed sigh as the rest of her friends giggled and joined in. "Okay, okay, yeah, I love you guys too. Can you get off of me now?"

Twilight smiled and stepped down. "I meant every word of what I said back there." The faces of her five friends turned gleefully toward her. "I don't know what comes next, but… as long as you girls are here with me, I'm sure we'll be okay."

Five ponies nodded in agreement, and Twilight couldn't be more grateful to have them. It had been a big journey in a relatively short period of time, and it was one that she could safely say had changed her for the better.

For the remainder of the day, the six ponies talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. For once, they didn't have any worries about Nightmare Moon, or mysterious magical illnesses, or even schoolwork (though Twilight had to admit she was starting to miss it). All they had was the prospect of a frightening new world, and the reassurance that they could get through it together.

Friendship truly was magic.


	39. Epilogue

Thank you to AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Wing Zero 032, rederci939, ganadoleader, Flightstar, Moriviv, ISliceYou, elitsama, Dratini4, Hubord68, Xk123X, Anonymous, Faliara, ViewPetu, and Corsair5587 for their reviews! And thank you so much to anyone and everyone who has reviewed this fic or otherwise given me support.

I'm sentimental so I decided to upload the last chapter exactly one year after I uploaded the first. I've had a great year with this fic. It's been loads of fun, and I think I've learned a lot about writing, too! Over one hundred thousand words, 39 chapters, nearly 50 000 hits, and more reviews than I ever imagined receiving… It never would have been completed without the help and support of readers and reviewers like YOU, so THANK YOU! (yes that was a reference to pbs but seriously)

I don't own MLP.

…

It had been a week since they defeated Nightmare Moon. One week since Twilight moved back with her family in Canterlot and began her task of understanding the world around her.

Her parents, being astronomers, were more than happy to give Twilight a view of the stars. But they were nothing like the stars she could see from Earth; the night sky was completely rearranged. Twilight felt disoriented just looking at it.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had gone to live with their families on the rock farm and in Cloudsdale respectfully, but both of them spent far more time in Ponyville from what Twilight had heard. Pinkie was fascinated by the townsfolk, and Fluttershy by the wild animals.

Applejack and Rarity had settled into their respective pony families. Applejack was completely enthralled with farming – it had been what she'd gone to Xanterlot to study in the first place, after all, and getting first-hand experience was very exciting. Rarity was absolutely in love with the amount of precious gems the world had to offer, and spent a lot of time figuring out how to incorporate them into clothing designs. Neither of them had forgotten their human families, and Twilight knew that they both longed to see them again.

As Twilight pushed open the door to Rainbow Dash's hospital room, it was clear that Rainbow was not adjusting as well as the others. Despite being under strict bed rest, Rainbow was over by the window when Twilight entered. Rainbow Dash glanced backwards when she heard the door open, and sighed in relief. "Good, it's just you. I thought it was that stupid nurse for a sec."

Twilight smiled sadly and trotted to her. "Are you any better today?" She asked it purely for conversational reasons. The bruise across her side hadn't faded at all, and the doctors were stumped by this complication.

Twilight, however, knew exactly what was wrong: they'd asked Rainbow Dash to stay still for more than two minutes.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before extending her wings and flying to her bed. "Nope. At this rate, I'll be here forever."

Twilight covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "It would probably help if you did what they asked and didn't fly, you know."

"Oh…" Rainbow Dash looked genuinely surprised. "Right. I keep forgetting." She groaned and stared at the ceiling. "That's a stupid rule anyways. I just became a pegasus, for God's sake! I want to fly!"

There was a knock at the door, and the nurse walked in. However, she wasn't alone: Twilight's jaw dropped in shock as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna followed close behind.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, looking between the two royal sisters with a smile. "If I may ask… what brings you two here?"

Princess Luna cleared her throat, and the nurse shot her a glare. Luna looked offended for a moment, but Celestia gave a small laugh and nudged her. "Fine… I shall refrain from speaking at an appropriate volume in order to keep thy hospital quiet and peaceful… though, I still do not understand the laws that would govern such a request," Luna said, looking thoroughly annoyed.

Princess Celestia smiled. "You are forgetting the point, my sister."

"Er, right… Twilight Sparkle, we have cometh to check on Rainbow Dash, who is known to be ill of health," Luna announced, pointing blatantly at Rainbow, who was looking extremely surprised to have such important visitors.

"Are you feeling any better, Rainbow Dash?" Princess Celestia asked, her pastel mane flowing as gently as ever despite being indoors.

Rainbow Dash slumped over and sighed. "I _feel _fine, but they won't let me move." Rainbow grumbled, giving a pointed look at the unicorn nurse.

The nurse glowered at her. "Only because we keep giving you pain-alleviating spells. If you can't control your own free will, we'll have to cease performing them."

"W-what?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. "You can't do that!"

The nurse sighed. "Ms. Dash, it's for your own good."

Rainbow looked devastated; her freedom was on the verge of being forcibly taken away, if only for a short while. Twilight agreed that it was for the best, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"I think," Princess Celestia began with a small smile. "I may have a solution."

"WHEE!" Pinkie Pie barreled into the hospital room, causing everyone except Celestia to flinch backwards in surprise. "I'm here, everypony! What's going on?"

Twilight stared at her incredulously. "Pinkie! How did you get here? I thought you were in Ponyville with the others?"

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Nope! They're all here with me!" As Twilight watched, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity walked into the room with huge smiles. Pinkie giggled. "See? Isn't this just the greatest? We're all together again!"

"The princesses said they had somethin' mighty important to discuss with us," Applejack explained, removing her hat in respect.

Princess Celestia laughed softly. "Indeed, we do."

Princess Luna nodded. "We would like to inquire, for the future of Equestrian generations, as well as thyne's own current state of well-being, if thou would likest to return to the other-worldly dimension in which thou comest from?"

There was an awkward silence. "Uh… come again?" Rainbow finally dared to ask, causing Luna to shoot her a glare and look over at her sister for help.

Princess Celestia gave an amused smile. "You have all accomplished so much by coming back to Equestria… but the days of Nightmare Moon's imminent return are now over," she explained, speaking directly to the six friends. "I've checked all of the portals leading to Earth, and they are all active and ready for you to use. Whether you want to go back to school full-time or just visit with your families, know that you have the freedom to do either."

Rarity gasped. "I thought we couldn't go back!" she exclaimed, a smile of delight appearing on her face. "You mean to say… I can see my family again?!"

"Of course." Princess Celestia laughed. "Why would you think you couldn't go back? I don't recall ever saying such a thing." There was a playful hint to her voice, and Twilight blushed as five pairs of eyes glared at her.

"I-I just assumed…" Twilight said lamely, dragging a hoof across the floor. "So… we can go back if we want to?"

"It's completely up to you. You six are always welcome in Equestria," Princess Celestia explained. "But, I do think it would be beneficial if Rainbow Dash had the opportunity to heal properly without being hindered by the flaws in pony biology."

It took Rainbow a few seconds to understand what Celestia meant, but once she did, she thrust a hoof in the air and cheered. "YES! No more sitting around! I'm totally game!"

"Ms. Dash!" The nurse scolded, causing Rainbow to huff angrily and sink back into bed. "Even in this… bipedal form the princesses were describing to me, I would still recommend no flying and to keep the use of you right… arm? That's the term, am I correct? Yes, keep the use of your right arm to a minimum."

Rainbow smiled giddily. "Okay, well, someone else'll have to take notes for me, but at least I can walk!"

"But… Princess?" Twilight asked. "Wouldn't it be more beneficial for us to study in Equestria than on Earth? I mean, I feel as if most of my studies have been a waste… everything's so different…" Twilight looked at the ground as her stresses became apparent.

Princess Celestia walked to Twilight and gently lifted her face up with a forehoof. "You six have no doubt been learning subjects that us ponies have yet to discover – that's what makes your knowledge so important, Twilight. You six could be opening up an entire wealth of knowledge that has only been uncovered within a different dimension."

"I'm in!" Rainbow Dash announced again.

"Me too, me too!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "But I can come back and visit all of my new pony friends too, right?"

Princess Celestia smiled. "Of course, Pinkie Pie."

"Oh, I simply cannot wait to see my family again!" Rarity's emotions were causing her to tear up. "Oh, they'll be so interested to hear about my pony family too, I'm sure!"

"Well, that about settles it; I'm comin' too!" Applejack announced with a grin.

"Me too," Fluttershy said quietly, and the five of them turned to look at Twilight. "Twilight, would you like to come?"

Twilight thought for a moment, then gave a slow nod. "Yes. Yes, I think I'll try it." Juggling two dimensions was a challenge, but being able to complete her education was a huge relief. Besides, it was in Rainbow's best interest, and she certainly wasn't about to leave any of her friends behind.

Princess Celestia nodded. "I understand. I've brought something with me that you may find interesting." Princess Luna left for a few seconds, then returned carrying an opened chest. It contained the elements of harmony that they had revived a week prior. "I've placed a spell on the elements – if you go to Earth while wearing these, your magical powers will not be drained, but instead contained within them. If you wear your element, you will have access to your magical abilities, and if you take them off, you'll be just like a normal human."

"Wow…" Twilight looked them over, slightly in awe. "That's amazing. Thank you."

"It's the least I could do, Twilight. Now, as you may remember, portals are exceptionally difficult to create. There are currently three in existence that lead to Xanterlot University."

"Three?" Twilight questioned. "I know about the one in the library, but what about the other two?"

"The one that leads to the library is currently the only viable option. The other two both lead directly to your room, Twilight. The first I created to send Spike to you, and the second was the one you accidentally created to send Spike back to me. Unfortunately, they aren't large enough to accommodate ponies, though I hope in the future Luna and I will be able to work with you to extend them, Twilight."

Twilight nodded. "I understand… speaking of Spike, where is he?"

"Sleeping, I'm assuming," Princess Celestia explained with a light laugh. "He'll certainly wish to visit you, don't worry."

"Are you ready, Twilight Sparkle?" Princess Luna asked, her expression turning serious.

Twilight turned around to look at her friends, who simultaneously nodded. Twilight grinned and nodded as well. "Alright girls, let's do this…"

"TOGETHER!" They called at once. Pinkie Pie fell over a fit of giggles from the unplanned choreography, and the rest of them soon joined in.

Twilight watched her five laughing friends, and deep in her heart, she knew that everything would be fine. As long as they were together, she felt there wasn't a force in the world she couldn't face.

…

…

…

The end!

…Well, kind of. Yes, I'd love to do a sequel. No, you won't be seeing one for some time. I have a lot to do both in and outside of the fanfiction realm, so just give me a while to sort everything out. I mean, I only have five chapters out of thirty-nine on FIMFiction, so that's one thing.

What should you expect to see in the sequel?

Twilight gets shitfaced (and then regrets it)

Pinkamena

Exam/ midterm stress overload

An actual relationship! (not with Twilight)

A certain evil draconequus

AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

It won't be as long as this fic, and will take place almost entirely at Xanterlot University. This fic is not a prerequisite, but it will help. Not that it matters if you're reading this, cause you've already done it! Congrats to you too! Man, it'll be weird putting a completed tag on this.

Oh, and if you guys haven't already, check out my fic "A Decade Lost".

Until next time… see ya later!


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